inFAMOUS: Legacy of the Beast
by Zivalene
Summary: On the day New Marais fell, humanity's fate would be set on an irreversible course. Rising from the ashes of his betrayal, Cole MacGrath must take up the mantle of the Beast and set off on a country-spanning journey to cure the Plague. Joined by Lucy Kuo and the Conduits he rescues, he must protect them from the military and a new, unforeseen threat. My take on 'inFAMOUS 3'.
1. Chapter 1

_**A word from the author: Please be courteous when leaving reviews. Leave constructive criticism and avoid posting spoilers.**_

 **If you like the story, follow ' ZivaleneGaming' on Twitter for updates and posts from the author!**

 _ **~Zivalene**_

* * *

 **inFAMOUS: Legacy of the Beast  
Chapter 1  
**

" _What you have become is the price you paid to get what you used to want."  
~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960_

* * *

 _~The 1st Day~_

Gunfire rang out in the streets of New Marais. Thunder split the air with deafening cracks under a burning red sky. Shouts of anger and fear traded back and forth in the minuscule pauses between shots.

Bullets whizzed past Cole MacGrath as he relentlessly loosed bolts of cerulean lightning from his hands. Two men stood on the balcony of a nearby apartment wearing camouflage fatigues and armed with Glock pistols. They were members of the local resistance whom he had previously allied with against the city's oppressive government.

These two, however, were nameless to him and so left him no guilt as the balcony gave way beneath their feet. If the fall to the concrete didn't kill them, the iron and wood scaffolding did.

The electric man gritted his teeth and howled as several bullets pelted his back. Blood leaked from his wounds and left red spots across his yellow shirt.

He turned over his left shoulder, spotting a group of four police officers perched on top of a green shingled roof four floors high. One of them, wielding a semi-automatic rifle likely confiscated from the numerous outlaws infesting the town, leered heatedly at him with a smug sneer as if proud to have punished him for his actions.

Though his confidence quickly dissipated seeing Cole give a grin of his own. As quickly as the metal casings had shed his skin, his wounds had healed as if they were nothing more than an afterthought.

With a side-arm toss, he sent a small orb of condensed electricity toward the cops, landing it at the edge of the roof. The one who had shot him called out a warning for the grenade and ducked behind a brick chimney immediately to his left. The officer beside him to who could not find cover in time had been thrown from the side of the building as the little blue ball combusted.

Not intending on missing the second time, he pulled his hand above his shoulder and took aim at the man hiding behind the chute. He only stopped upon hearing a dismissive growl come from the giant golem of lava beside him, whose shoulder he had been hovering over throughout the siege.

The Beast, known sympathetically to Cole by the name of John White, conjured a convection of fire between his two enormous hands to create his own destructive projectile. With a great lunge of his arm, the ball of flames rushed towards the officers, who had tried to retaliate with machine gun fire and rocket propelled grenades only to helplessly be engulfed in the blaze. Upon contact, the sphere exploded with enough force to crumble the roof into a rain of green shingles and brick, reducing the building from three stories to two.

The three remaining policemen were nowhere to be seen, incinerated in the attack.

Cole smirked, oddly satisfied with watching the destruction unfold. He found himself rather humbled to be at John's side while he carried out his mission to save the city from impending doom. The more he witnessed the magnitude of his power, the better he felt about choosing to be his ally rather than his enemy.

At the same time, he was conflicted. If he had this level of strength and absolution with his own powers, he probably would have been able to prevent the world from falling into the decaying state it was in.

He shoved these regrets away. Right now, there was a job to do. All that mattered was helping John heal New Marais from the impending Plague that threatened to silently kill every last human being on Earth. He could be alone with his mistakes later.

Pulled through the air like a canine in a harness, Cole remained beside the Beast's massive one-hundred foot tall frame as he trudged closer to the Saint Ignatius cathedral at the end of the street, each footfall a boom of solid stone against concrete rocking his chest. Cars, debris and corpses floated weightlessly through the air due to the gravity-nullifying field surrounding the giant.

One of John's many abilities allowed him to provide himself as a source of power for other Conduits, which—along with the lack of gravity— allowed Cole achieve perfect flight and repair damaged tissue with miraculous ease. The only downside was that he had to remain within a personal distance to him.

Even from a generous range, the electric man could feel the heat radiating off of his magma body and the miasma fumes of carbon dioxide and sulfur made him want to vomit. However, he respectfully held the bile down in his throat and looked forward to John returning to his human body once their task was completed.

At the gates of the church's courtyard, a handful of rebels and several more members of the city's oppressive militia that they had once feuded with greeted them with a hail of gunfire and rockets. One of the masked delinquents had manned a high-powered turret mounted on the back of a truck.

Against the onslaught of bullets, Cole created his own personal electromagnetic force field to protect himself from the attack. The kinetic energy from the shots were absorbed by the shield and converted into electricity to fuel his powers.

John, on the other hand, was wholly unfazed by their advances. The bullets and missiles left not even the smallest scratch on his dense armor. Without concern for his well-being, he readied another fireball and launched it at their ranks.

In a flare of cinder and ashes, the truck exploded in a burst of gasoline and embers, taking all of the rebels and militia with it.

As the pair neared the foot of the stairs at the front of the cathedral, Cole's earpiece buzzed with his other companion's voice, Lucy Kuo, who had just expunged a squad of militia from a nearby rooftop. "Can you believe this? Rebels and Militia fighting side-by-side?"

"They know they're about to die," he shrugged, spotting her standing among the frozen corpses she had left in her wake. "What's their rivalry compared to what we're about to do to them?"

From above, he could see her frown; not from his statement but from something she saw that he wasn't aware of. "Cole, behind you!"

He spun around, flinching at the flash of blue streaking towards him. While he had managed to avoid it, John did not.

Cole plummeted from the air, unable to maintain flight without John amplifying his powers. He grappled onto the neck of a street lamp as he fell, his heart stuttering from the surprise of the plunge.

The Beast toppled to one knee, letting out a mournful roar as the beam sapped his strength. As powerful and invincible as he was, there still remained one thing that could kill him; the Ray Field Inhibitor. And it was in the opposing hands of one of Cole's former comrades.

If he allowed John to die now, the rest of humanity would die with him.

From above he heard Kuo give a disgruntled groan. "I'll protect John, you take care of Nix."

"Damn right I will," Cole agreed, following the beam to the roof of the cathedral with glaring eyes.

Painlessly, he let go of the utility light and dropped to the sidewalk. Brazenly, he barreled up the stone steps that led to the front doors of the chapel, crossing under the shadow of a statue of the man who had christened it.

Rebels, militia and police officers alike who had joined forces to protect the landmark fired upon him in unison. A few bullets grazed the sides of his arms, snipped the clumped fabric of his pants and may have even caught him in the shoulder, but without better precision their weapons were no match for a Conduit's endurance to pain.

Concentrating electricity into his hands, he ionized the air particles around him and unleashed a spontaneous gust of wind toward his enemies. In only a few short moments it had raged into an isolated tornado strong enough to lift them out of his path and thrown across the courtyard.

He directed his attention to the crest of the cathedral's roof near the large decorative crucifix and released a salvo of projectiles, densely packed with electricity. They burst just beneath where Nix stood, and immediately the bright light shrunk away as she withdrew to safety.

This time, he wasn't going to let her get away.

Utilizing his powers, he tossed a continuous arc of lightning to the edge of the roof and zoomed to the top.

Stepping down from the plaster frame that connected the two bell towers to the iconic Christian symbol, Cole stared Nix in the eye, who tightly clutched the Conduit-eradication device in her hand.

"You don't have to do this, Nix," he said callously. "Come on... Join us."

Her dark brown eyes furrowed in disgust. "I ain't letting that thing live another day! Besides—if he makes everyone a Conduit, then what am I? I'll be a nobody again."

Equally displeased to hear her refusal, Cole shot a streak of lightning at her, causing a crack of thunder that split the sound barrier.

In a plume of ash and cinder Nix had vanished, sparing herself from the wrath of one-hundred thousand volts. An instant later, he felt the searing pain of burns at his back as he was shoved to the floor by a cloud of black smoke.

He hardly had the time to retaliate before he noticed the gobs of boiling napalm flying towards him. He rolled to his right, allowing the slope of the roof to slide him down and out of harm's way before the noxious bombs splat in the very spot he had stood.

"I thought you were tougher than this," she mocked with a coy grin.

More than happy to reaffirm his tenacity, he lobbed three of his own grenades at her. Planting around her feet, she was blown onto her back.

Cole took this as his opportunity to close in, manifesting his electricity as a blade of solid plasma around his forearm. He would end this quick, not wishing any more suffering onto his friend than necessary despite their opposing views.

As his hand came down, she curled on her side, narrowly keeping her neck attached to her body. Her boot rammed into the man's side, causing him to stumble.

From her hand spurted a miasma of black smoke and red-hot cinders that obscured his vision. Cole shut his eyes as they began to water and coughed harshly to remove the irritants from his lungs.

Another burning cloud sent him tumbling down the other side of the roof.

He blinked furiously trying to clear his vision, the sting in his eyes blurring the world around him. When he saw the glare of blue above him, he vaulted over a nearby dormer that allowed light to seep in from the ceiling. His hand seared in horrible pain as the beam from the RFI came in contact with his skin as if he had dipped it in corrosive acid.

Behind the gabled structure, he hissed and clutched at his hand. That was only an instant of exposure to the Inhibitor's degrading effects on his body. What John had endured must have been unbearable.

He turned to glance over the peak of shingles only to duck down to avoid the laser once more. So long as Nix had the device bearing down on his position, he wasn't going to be leaving any time soon.

Scrambling through his mind for a solution, Cole lifted his gaze to the scarlet sky and released a bright satellite straight up into the air. For a brief moment Nix's attention drifted away from him and to the spherical object he had created, suspecting it to be an explicit threat to her. In that short window, he fired a single arc of lightning at her.

Her muscles locked up in response to the voltage flowing from her chest to her feet and she buckled in shock. But the real damage came when the satellite immediately changed course and barrelled down at her as if it were a highly volatile missile guided by a precise targeting system.

Again, she fell to the flat ridge of the roof. Her dark skin had begun to bruise into black splotches, burns from exposure to electrical currents shredding bright pink strips in her flesh. Some of them had even began to weep in blood.

She gasped for air as she wobbled to her feet. "We had some fun, didn't we baby?"

"Yeah... Yeah, Nix, we did," Cole nodded accompanying a strained whisper. "But you picked the wrong side on this one."

Disappointed by his answer, Nix's palms illuminated in a rustic red and she stomped her boot into the stone. Thick tendrils of black and orange goo slithered at him, anxious to engulf him in their slimy depths.

Cole hopped backwards, being careful not to let the trails of napalm touch his skin. He had seen this attack before many times. Once she had her foe ensnared they were rendered immobile before bursting into an all-encompassing inferno with the slightest ignition; most of the time it had been his own electricity used as the catalyst.

One by one, he detonated the chemicals with a single strike of lightning, leaving the remaining oils to fall lifeless and limp, staining the brick and plaster stained a slick ebony black.

Tiny specs of napalm dotted his skin and clothes. Pinpricks of pain stabbed his nerves, but it was nothing he couldn't ignore for the moment.

Before the slick had finished raining down, more gobs of incendiary bombs flew at him. Reacting quickly, Cole shoved his hands forward from his chest and released a wave of kinetic energy. The blobs bounced away like a tennis ball thrown against a wall and found their way back to Nix.

As she reeled once more from injury, Cole sent a cluster of his own grenades into the mix. The woman let out a tormented shout as electricity mixed with napalm and left intense burns throughout her skin.

"I was so wrong about you!" she cried, her voice harsh and hateful.

"Stop fighting. It's over."

Enraged and desperate, Nix concealed her body in flames and rocketed towards him, her posture reminiscent of a phoenix in flight.

Before he was able to move, Cole was struck square in the chest as the fire burst in his face. He was thrown backwards into the base of a dome at the rear of the chapel with such force that he struggled to breathe, stunned from the impact.

A moment later his torso was covered in the sticky black oil and trapped him against the wall like a fly caught in a spider's web. He wriggled and squirmed, knowing that his opponent could easily set fire to the gel and incinerate him whenever she pleased. But he quickly realized that he wasn't going anywhere.

Nix approached him with sashaying hips and said in a purring voice, "You've been a bad boy, Cole baby...going back on your promise." She brought her clawed fingers to his cheek and gently caressed him with the cold metal. "It's not too late, y'know—to do the right thing."

He jerked away from her as far as he could, scowling. "I am doing the right thing. John's the last hope humanity has. If you kill him you'll be taking the whole world down with him."

She frowned at his answer. "Hope, huh? You're one to talk considering you could use more of it. You went through all that—finding the Blast Cores, telling everyone you'd kill the Beast—just to spit in our faces and leave us in the dirt."

"You're just mad that he killed your pets," he replied. "Open your eyes, Nix. You know this is the only way."

"And maybe you're not man enough to tell me the truth. You're just afraid to die, just like that frigid bitch Kuo."

She waited for a rebuttal, but was met with only a stoic silence.

"Fine, then. Be like that. Once I kill the Beast, you won't have much of a choice except to use the RFI. You're going to have to man up sooner or later."

"Over my dead body," Cole vowed.

"Yeah," she nodded with resentment. "Mine, too."

Then she turned on her heel and slipped into a snaking cloud of ash, returning to the roof's edge with RFI in hand. Raising it above her head, she clenched down on the controls and activated the azure beam that screamed across the sky.

Cole's teeth chattered as John's ferocious roar caused the building to trembled and quake. He didn't need to see him to know that he was suffering. He had to do something, and fast.

Whatever he decided to do, Nix wouldn't resort to killing him. She still needed him to utilize the RFI's full capabilities. He, himself, was not an expendable bargaining chip. Where she had no choice but to keep him alive, she did not have the same privilege.

He fought against the adhesive gel as hard as he was able, but it did not budge. He would need to use more than just his brute strength to free himself.

As an incendiary substance, it would be unwise to use his electric powers and risk burning himself alive. Thankfully, he was armed with more than just his basic set of abilities.

From his hands came a freezing cold stream of ice that he concentrated on the slick that trapped him against the wall. Slowly the liquid began to solidify, losing its adhesive properties and becoming tough and frigid.

He glanced up to check if Nix had noticed him trying to escape. Crystals of ice rocketed at her from below. She ducked behind the crucifix for a short moment before focusing the RFI again. Cole could only assume that Kuo was in just as much danger as John was. Thankfully, they were providing enough of a distraction to keep her attention away from him.

After half a minute had passed, Cole had frozen the napalm enough to peel himself off the wall and the viscous substance from his shirt. Lashing his right arm out toward Nix, he ripped her from her perch with a tether of lightning.

Caught off guard and confused, she crumpled to the slicked ground where much of her expended oil had congregated. She had no time to run before Cole raised both hands to the sky, thunder rolling in anticipation, and on his command a storm of pure natural lightning hurled down upon her.

Under the endless pounding of thunder, Nix's screams barely reached his ears. He reserved this power for the worst of situations; when he needed to end a fight immediately and when he was outnumbered and outmatched. In this case, the battle had gone on long enough.

He did not expect her to survive.

When the last of the lightning dissipated and the thunder gave its final heave, his heart jolted to see Nix twitch face-down in the ashes of expended napalm. Her arms shook as she tried to lift herself off the floor, blood and agonizing sobs dribbling from her lips.

All the while, she never let go of the RFI clutched in her grasp. She had endured on determination and stubbornness alone.

Bringing his hand over his shoulder, Cole gripped the hilt of his Amp and pulled it from the strap on his backpack. While he admired her gusto, he had a mission to complete. So long as she lived, she'd only be barring his path to save the world.

He rushed at her with both hands tight on his weapon and struck with all his might. She fell to her back, but continued to breathe.

The two prongs of his Amp pinned her to the ground by her neck. With her empty hand she clasped at it, staring back at him with her graphite eyes full of fear and pain.

He paused a moment, having never seen anything less than vim and vigor in her features. To see her so vulnerable and afraid sent a shiver down his spine.

Then he swallowed and grit his teeth. Electricity surged through his hands and into the metallic coils against her neck. She convulsed and screamed silently, but only for a few short seconds.

When he drew back, her head bobbed lifelessly and her eyes were glazed in white. The RFI rolled from her limp fingers and seemed resolved to make its way to the base of crucifix at the other end of the roof.

It came to a halt after bumping against the rubber soles of a pair of black converse. Cole frowned, his stomach twisting in dread.

Zeke Dunbar, the one person he could ever truly call his friend and, at times, his surrogate brother, scooped the machine into his hand. In the other was his favorite six-shot revolver.

Cole returned the Amp to its sheathe as he approached with legs heavy as lead, a serrated knife piercing his heart. "Half as long..." he uttered with a hoarse voice.

"...Twice as bright," reciprocated his friend, empty and resigning. He raised his gun and aimed it at his friend. With a dejected shake of his head he said in a near apologetic tone, "I gotta try."

"I know..." Cole whispered. He didn't blame him for wanting to take the shot. It was for the sake of survival, and maybe a little bit of pride.

The two already knew how this would end. Zeke was only a man without any superpowers to speak of. He had no means to stop him, but there was no one else left to stand in his way.

With a terribly loud _crack_ Cole pitched forward in pain, grabbing at his chest. His best friend had taken a perfect shot at his heart.

But Cole's superhuman resistance to bullets had left him with only a bloody cut and a hole in his yellow shirt.

He returned a glare directly to Zeke's eyes hidden behind his thick sunglasses. Then electricity laced from his hand and up his arm, tinting his face with a pale blue light.

Zeke took aim again with a rock in his chest. In self-defense Cole conducted a charge of only a few volts into his body, but it was enough to send a painful jolt through his muscles and cause his heart to beat unevenly.

Doubled over, Zeke craned his head up to see Cole shrink at his suffering.

He lifted the gun again and was met with another devastating shock, falling to his hands and knees. For a few seconds his lungs failed to expand, leaving him breathless and gasping for air.

Shaking violently, Zeke pulled himself to one knee struggling to keep his balance. Every nerve in his body had been shot, leaving him in excruciating pain. His heart ached with every pitiful beat.

His head bobbled wearily looking up at Cole one more time. The other's eyes drooped in regret as he shook his head slowly, begging Zeke not to try again.

Taking a breath that sounded more like a choke, his arm jerked uncontrollably as the gun rose one last time. The barrel of the revolver wobbled in every direction without a stable hand to guide it.

Zeke's finger twitched at the trigger.

Cole released another bolt of lightning from his hand. His "brother" fell back, blue streaks of electricity dancing across his body, and did not stir again.

The electric man took hold of the Amp and held it loosely in his hand. His legs felt as if he weighed a ton as he staggered toward Zeke's still body.

He crouched beside him; taking in the reality that he had killed the last person he had held dear. His head hung in shame. The line that divided right and wrong now seemed entirely faded to him. Zeke had died defending the cause he thought was right—the same cause Cole himself had been fighting for since the day they sailed to New Marais—and he had never felt so wrong in his life.

Zeke's hand flopped to the floor as Cole pried the RFI from his fingers. The device buzzed and hummed in his grasp as it were a living being trembling in fear.

The city had fallen into an ominous silence. No gunfire rattled the air like it had only moments ago. Those who had come to fight had either perished defending the city, or had taken their only chance to run.

A flurry of snow burst above him. Lucy Kuo had flown to the top of the cathedral and balanced on the left arm of the crucifix.

Crashing footfalls rocked the entire building as John came lumbering forward, standing at his full height just short of the tallest bell tower on the chapel.

The two of them stared in anticipation.

Under their gaze, he briefly tightened his grip on the RFI. Nix's final words echoed in his head. It wasn't too late. He could still use it to save millions of lives. All it would take was the simple flip of a switch.

But what if it didn't work? It would kill every Conduit on the planet and leave the Plague to finish off the rest of humanity.

It was a chance he wasn't willing to take.

Cole threw it to the ground and gripped his Amp with both hands. He raised it over his shoulder and with an anguished shout brought it down before he had the chance to change his mind.

The RFI was smashed into small chunks of metal and copper wiring—completely destroyed beyond repair.

Now there really was only one last hope to save the world from the Plague. Their mission could continue unimpeded. Without the RFI no one could stop them.

John's burning eyes fell upon the bodies of Nix and Zeke. His voice echoed in the hollow spaces of his companions' minds. _"Cole... I can't...'_ " He hung his head wearily and he took hold of the tower for support. _"I can't do this anymore."_

Cole leered at him, feeling his heart begin to pound and his stomach twist into a knot. "What? After all this...?"

 _"No,"_ retaliated the other, _"I believe in the plan, but I'm so tired. I've had enough killing. I should have died a long time ago."_

Kuo looked away sorrowfully.

"John..." Cole growled through gritted teeth. He had come too far for it to end like this. He couldn't bring Zeke back from the dead nor any other innocents he had killed that day. If John gave up now, all of their deaths would have been for nothing.

 _"...But I know you,"_ said John earnestly. _"If I gave you the power you would see it through."_

Cole's pulse stopped. He opened his mouth to protest, but suddenly felt an intense pressure take him by the chest. An enormous amount of power rushed into his body exactly as if he was a sponge tossed carelessly into the ocean.

The sensation intensified, sending him into an excruciating pain. He didn't know what would happen first—whether his body would simply give out from the pain or if he would pop like a balloon.

The energy had become too much for him to contain, spilling from his eyes and mouth as a pure storm of lightning.

The next moment there came an intense light bursting forth from John. The cathedral gave way beneath Cole's feet, sending him crashing several stories to the ground and burying him under its remains.

Screams of inevitable suffering and death filled in the silence.

With unimaginable force the blast leveled the city. Entire buildings were smashed into useless heaps of rubble. Cars exploded on every street, signs and stop lights were ripped from their moorings, twisted into knots as if they had been made of string. Roads collapsed into the underground sewer system, swallowing anything unfortunate enough to be placed there at the time.

Every human in the city had been reduced to smoldering piles of incinerated flesh and bone, giving way for the Conduits to gain their hidden potential and be cured of the Plague.

At last, New Marais took its final breath.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A word from the author: Please be courteous when leaving reviews. Leave constructive criticism and avoid posting spoilers.  
**_  
 _ **If you like the story, follow 'LegacyOfTheBeastFiction' on Facebook for updates and posts from the author!**_

 _ **~Zivalene**_

* * *

 **inFAMOUS: Legacy of the Beast**  
 **Chapter 2**

" _Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light. "  
~Norman B. Rice_

* * *

Cole clenched his fist once the dust had settled, grabbing a handful of gravel and sediment. The power transfer had left him weak and lethargic. His vision was grained and blurred as if he had not used his eyes in decades.

He had no idea how long he had been unconscious. It could have been a few minutes or a few hours for all he knew.

He considered the notion that he was waking up in a Hell perfectly suited for him. When he came to find that he was not actually dead but still living in the world as he had left it, he confirmed that he had allowed it to cross over to Earth.

Erupting into a fit of coughs from the fallout, Cole attempted to pull himself out from beneath the remains of the cathedral. He let out a pained grunt at an intense stabbing in his abdomen. His heart hammered in his chest, syncopating with pulsing throbs in his temples.

Gripping the edge of a demolished wall he pulled himself wearily to his feet. The tired effort had caused his skull to fog and his sight to spin. Taking one unintentionally precarious step he heard something snap beneath his shoe.

His blood turned cold as he looked down and realized what it had been.

He had crushed the tinted lenses of Zeke's sunglasses he had worn with dedication. The black plastic frames were bent into irreparable condition from the blast.

Beside the shards of darkened glass were the pieces of metal shrapnel from the RFI.

Now he wished with every fiber of his being that he could take it back.

Cole looked around to take in the world he had damned himself to. The entire cathedral and its surrounding keep had been torn to shreds, fallen into a condemned crater created by the blast. The scene reminded him immediately of the Ray Sphere explosion that had granted him his powers.

Just looking at it made his blood boil.

Electricity danced and laced down his arms. Releasing his contained anger in this way always seemed to keep him from losing whatever sanity he had left.

At this point he assumed that sanity was something he was lacking altogether.

Without warning, sparks began to fly wildly from his hands. They popped and cracked faster and faster, even as he tried to contain the reaction.

What followed next was the proof Cole needed that nothing would ever be the same again.

The electricity began to flash and burn into flames, although he felt no pain from the fire. The anomaly left his heart racing in fear. He fought to quell the blaze just as he would with his lightning, but it raged hotter and brighter the more he tried until it burst forth into the sky.

Once the inferno finished roaring, the embers covering his skin flickered out in silence.

With uneven breaths Cole lowered his eyes to his hands. His fingers twitched and trembled from the sheer amount of energy he had released.

Normally, he would have welcomed the addition of a new power to his ever-expanding arsenal. But this—a strength the likes of which he had never held before—frightened him. Not because it was new or that it proved that his limits never seemed to end, but because he knew where he had obtained such power.

It was only one small change in a long list of things he would be burdened with for the rest of his life.

"Cole!"

A voice called to him from somewhere in the wreckage, shaking him from his thoughts.

"Kuo?" He returned the call. "Where are you?"

"Over here," her voice echoed back through the silence.

As vague as 'over here' was, Cole followed the sound to where it had originated. He found Kuo trapped beneath the remains of what was once the bell tower. As he came closer, he could see that the lower half of her body had been pinned by the copper dome.

He rushed to her side without hesitation, gripping the bottom of the structure.

"You can't," Kuo mumbled in pain. "It's too heavy."

"I'm not gonna leave you there," he replied.

As he tried to lift it with his bare hands Kuo shouted in pain, prompting him to let go immediately.

"Don't. You're only going to make it worse."

Cole bit his bottom lip, trying to think of a way to get her out from beneath the debris without crushing her legs in the process.

"Cover your head. I've got an idea."

She lowered her face to the ground and placed her hands on his heads, trusting that whatever he was about to do wouldn't smash her flat.

Cole focused his powers, surrounding himself with kinetic energy. The fallen zenith of the tower lifted straight off the ground, leaving Kuo unharmed.

He urged her to hurry out of the way before his strength failed him. In response she dragged herself by her arms in obvious pain as far as she could without the use of her legs.

Raising the dome above his head, Cole gathered more power into his hands. Then he thrust it up and over the remains of the city with such velocity he had no idea where it was going to land. Not that it made much difference where it ended up; there was no property to feel any shame about destroying or civilians to accidentally crush by pure bad luck.

He turned back to Kuo, who had propped herself up against a pile of concrete and rebar. She hissed as she stretched her legs out on the ground.

"Does it hurt too much to walk?" asked Cole as he crouched beside her.

With a cringe, the woman answered, "It feels more like it's asleep than broken." Then she laughed a bit. "Being a Conduit has its perks. I think I'll be fine."

"Here, let me help you."

Cole took one hand and placed it on her bicep and another on her hip. She held onto his shoulders as he pulled.

She cried out and instinctively grabbed her arm where he had touched her. He brought his hand away, worrying that it had been more than her legs that were injured in the chaos.

When she took her hand away, she revealed a bright red burn on her skin printed perfectly in the shape of a palm and fingers.

Cole glanced down at his hand, finding traces of burning embers on his flesh. He frowned with a pang of guilt in his chest.

"Fire...?" Kuo stared confused as they dimly flickered.

"I'm sorry." Cole tried to wave the cinders away like he was accustomed with his electricity, yet they remained aglow even brighter than before. "I'm still learning how to control it."

"You didn't have fire powers before," mused Kuo, as if the fact that he had burned her didn't bother her at all. Then she studied his face as if she were looking for someone else. "Does that mean you...?"

"Yeah," Cole confirmed quietly, neither happy nor proud of what he had become. Then he closed his fist, smothering the flames and sprinkling the ashes to the ground. "I am the Beast."

Kuo stayed silent for a few seconds. She looked him over once more, then touched his cheek with her small fingers as if she needed to feel that he was real. The chill of her hand was like placing an ice pack to his skin.

"But you don't look any different. You don't look...changed. Not like—" she stopped to take a quick gasp. "John. Where is he? Have you seen him?"

Cole frowned and gently took her wrist in his hand, hesitating only to make sure he wasn't about to burn her. Then he lowered her hand from his face.

"John's dead, Kuo."

Her face drooped with grief. "So he really…?"

"His power was the only thing keeping him alive. Without it, he couldn't hold himself together."

Lucy slumped in astonishment. Her mood had always seemed to be as fragile as a cracked piece of glass.

Seeing her like this irritated Cole more than he was willing to admit. What right did she have to mourn one person when he had lost two entire cities and three of his closest friends?

Part of it might have been the swelling in his chest that he couldn't seem to relieve since he had woken up.

"It's what he wanted," he said, trying to comfort her without letting on to what he really wanted to say. "The least we can do is finish what he started."

"You're right." She nodded, bringing her eyes back up to him. "We don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves. We might as well get used to it."

This time, without a flinch, Kuo was able to get to her feet with Cole's help. However, she still didn't have the strength to stand on her own.

He took her arm around his shoulders and held her firm at the hip.

"If we go to the marina we might be able to find a salvageable boat to get off the island. The smaller the boat, the less conspicuous we'll be heading to the mainland."

"What about the Conduits?" asked Cole.

"What about them?" returned Kuo. Looking at him, she could see a hint of disappointment in his stare. "You're not thinking of taking them with us, are you?"

"Is that a problem?"

"Yes, it's a problem. John never brought the Conduits he saved with him."

"That's because John walked around the country as a three-thousand ton rock. He drew too much attention to himself. Every day, there was another news story about 'the creature ravaging the east coast' and the military knew exactly where to find him."

"Maybe he didn't want to take the time to make sure they were fed and given proper shelter. If we take them with us, they'll only slow us down."

Cole glared at her. "Then what would you have us do? Leave them stranded on the island, alone and helpless when the military comes? They'll see them as monsters, not people needing to be rescued. What's the point of saving them if we just leave them to die?"

Kuo scowled in defeat. She couldn't deny that he had a solid argument. She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Fine. We'll bring them with us."

"Thank you," Cole said sarcastically.

"...Until we reach the mainland. After that, we turn them loose."

The other grumbled displeased. Why was it that women always needed to have the last say in everything?

"Alright. Have it your way," he lied.

"So, where do we start?"

As Cole contemplated where to begin the search, there came a sort of tickle in his brain, like the small buzz from taking a dose of caffeine. It was similar to the sense he felt when he was near a source of electricity. But all power was lost to the town. He was sensing something else, almost like he was feeling a separate extension of himself.

Then, he realized the tickle seemed to be coming from beside him, from Kuo. It was leading him to her. He was sensing her power.

Once he came to understand, he felt several smaller sources in other directions as if they were weak and far away. Putting the pieces together a smile creeped across his face.

"I can sense them…. Four of them. I can track them down."

Kuo's thin brows elevated. "Huh. That's useful."

"There's one only a few blocks from here. Do you think you can walk that far?"

"Yeah, moving around a bit will bring the feeling back. Lead the way."

* * *

Following the creeping itch in his mind, Cole led the way to the nearest Conduit with Kuo right behind him. Two blocks away from the east side of the cathedral the tickle intensified into an excited buzz.

They came into a small lot hidden behind a cafe. Before the blast, this had been a popular hangout spot for people going to and from church. Planters filled with flowers had lined the patio and trees were planted to simulate a peaceful environment. Lanterns were strung out over the dining area to keep it lit at night.

Right in the middle had been a pristine granite fountain with the base shaped like a three-leaf clover.

Now it was far less than a beautiful sight. All the plants had been incinerated to a brown crisp. The bark from the toppled trees was shredded like someone had come with an ax and hacked away without any accuracy or precision. The lights left shattered glass littered on the ground. Metal chairs and tables were twisted into unrecognizable masses. One side of the fountain had been demolished as if crushed by a sledgehammer, spilling what water it had left onto the patio floor.

Most noticeable were the massive chunks of debris that had been split from the surrounding buildings spread all over the lot.

Pinned beneath a smashed gable was the Conduit the two were looking for.

It was a man with dark hair, dressed in the navy uniform of a police officer with a New Marais patch on his left shoulder. He struggled with exhausted gasps to pull himself from the wreckage without success like a mouse caught in a snap trap by the back end.

After some thought, Cole recognized him as one of the officers he had freed from a militia holding facility while simultaneously rescuing Kuo from Bertrand's possession.

He also recognized him as the cop who had shot him in the back with an automatic rifle. Suddenly, he wasn't feeling so charitable.

The man called out after hearing the sounds of footsteps behind him. "Is someone there? Please, for the love of God, help me!"

Swallowing his ire, Cole hurried up to him, careful not to step in the pool of water that heavily saturated the patio. Thankfully, the officer wasn't lying in a puddle so that he could assist him without fear of electrocuting him.

"Hold on, I'll get this off you," he assured the Conduit as he gripped the side of the rubble and lifted it clean off the ground, tossing it aside with impressive ease.

The cop gave a big sigh of relief while crawling forward to test the usefulness of his legs. He appeared to be in some distress, but not enough to cause him serious pain. "Thank you…thank you."

He turned onto his back during his praise to see who had come to rescue him. His face turned pale and his cobalt eyes widened upon seeing Cole standing above him.

Reaching for his waist, he withdrew a standard 9 millimeter Glock from his holster and aimed it at his savior.

"Whoa, easy." Cole raised his hands. He glanced at the badge on his chest for a quick reminder of his name. It read, 'T. Davis'; the 'T' cut in half by a rigid scratch. "It's... Torin, right? Officer Torin Davis? I'm here to help."

"You? Here to help me?" Globs of spit flew from the other's mouth. "You attacked me along with that thing. You killed my partner before it blew apart the roof we were posted on."

Cole glanced behind himself, seeing a literal hole carved out of the top of the building with the green shingles.

He cursed at himself. The last person he hoped to convince to join him was an officer of the city he just terrorized.

"I get it, you're pissed," Cole said in a sympathetic tone. "I'm probably the last person you want to see right now. But you've gotta believe me, I don't want to hurt you."

"How do I know you're not really here just to finish me off?"

Cole paused to think. Then he dropped his hands and placed them behind his back.

"Just hear me out. If you wanna shoot me, go ahead. I won't shoot back."

"Cole?" Kuo whispered to him with a snap. "What are you doing?"

"Proving my point."

She looked between him and the armed cop, fearing that Cole's offer of peace would only lead to him being filled with holes.

Then the man glanced at her hazardously before pointing his weapon at her. "And you?"

"She was injured in the explosion," Cole answered quickly. "She's no threat to you."

Officer Davis' eyes hovered on Kuo's arms, leery of her powers. "If you want me to listen, she does the same."

The woman hesitated, looking to Cole for an answer. He shared her gaze steadily and gave a trustworthy nod. Then she sighed nervously and placed both hands behind her back.

She had come this far trusting in Cole's judgement. He hadn't let her down yet.

Now the gun swiveled back to him, aimed square at his chest. "Alright. Start talking. And you'd better have a damn good explanation."

Without even a nervous tremble, Cole began to speak. "The truth is I've found a way to cure the Plague. And you're the proof that it works."

"If you think I'm going to believe that crock of shit, think again. The news said that a vaccine hasn't been developed; it's impossible to make one."

"Because the Plague isn't a bacterial infection or a virus; it's radiation poisoning. Conduits are immune to its effects. Normal people— well, you already what happens to them."

"How do I know you're not making this up?"

"Just look at 're alive. You're one of the lucky ones we were able to heal."

Torin paused, as if he needed time to absorb the information. The lost look on his face showed that he had more questions than answers.

"I don't understand. What does the Plague have to do with that monster?"

"That 'monster' was a Conduit who could activate other Conduits' powers. He was never mindlessly destroying whatever he came across. He was immunizing people."

Torin's gaze found the blackened form of a person sprawled out on the concrete while he listened. Without looking away he surmised, "And while he healed the Conduits, people without powers die...cured only in the sense that they don't have to suffer in death."

Cole chose to remain silent, as the sight of the body appeared to greatly disturb the officer. He seemed to be entranced in sorrow, as if he was already familiar with the sight.

He took a deep breath then returned his attention to Cole. "Where is your 'friend' now? Off to heal more Conduits?"

"No," the other replied steadily. "He took his own life; said he couldn't handle killing anymore."

This made Torin chuckle without so much as a smile. "That's ironic. Someone who can't be killed by the military or nuclear weapons kills himself with a troubled conscience. Then what are you going to do without him?"

"First, I'm going to get you and the other survivors off the island. The military will be here soon with orders to shoot anyone with powers. I plan to be gone by then."

He waited as Torin appeared to assess his story as well as his available options. He surveyed his surroundings, as well as Kuo and the corpse.

Finally, he lowered the gun. "Your story doesn't sit right with me, but if there are other survivors out there it's my duty to help them. New Marais is still my responsibility…even if it is in shambles."

"That's good enough for me." Cole extended hand a hand. "Can you walk?"

"I think so," confirmed Torin, accepting the assistance before holstering his pistol. He took a few test steps, grunting in pain on the fourth. "A pinched nerve but I should be fine. I was afraid I may have lost the use of my legs underneath that thing."

"Congratulations, you're officially a Conduit."

"Huh," murmured the cop with interest, tapping his feet to check for more pain. "I'm not sure if I should be relieved or disgusted."

"That makes two of us," Cole agreed.

"Don't think this makes us friends, MacGrath. I'm keeping my eye on you."

"I'm trying to save you, not kill you. You don't have to be so paranoid."

"Yes I do," Torin squinted at him. "You've already tried to kill me once today."


	3. Chapter 3

_**A word from the author: Please be courteous when leaving reviews. Leave constructive criticism and avoid posting spoilers.**_

 _ **If you like the story, follow 'LegacyOfTheBeastFiction' on Facebook for updates and posts from the author!**_

 _ **~Zivalene**_

* * *

 **inFAMOUS: Legacy of the Beast  
Chapter 3**

"We must not promise what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we cannot."  
~Abraham Lincoln

* * *

Now the tingle in Cole's brain led him to a small cul-de-sac on the edge of the commercial district of the city. Hardly any of the homes remained standing after the explosion. Then again, there was hardly anything impressive to look at before.

All of them had been run down, old, and unstable. The homes were so undesirable that they were practically a small step up from being homeless.

There came hushed whispers from the wreckage of one of the smaller houses. The closer the Conduits came to it, the more they could make out mournful sobs.

Suddenly the crying stopped for a moment. The sound then started to come from another house in the neighborhood.

A few seconds later it relocated to yet another house, then another until the noises returned to the home they had originated from.

The phenomena gave the cluster of deserted buildings a haunted air. Cole could see Kuo tense up in the corner of his eye. Torin seemed to be slightly unnerved. He wasn't accustomed to dealing with superpowers.

Following the sobs while they were still stationary, the three moved carefully into the decrepit home.

In a small bedroom in the back was a young man down on his knees, breathing small, quiet sobs. He appeared to be the same age as Cole if not younger. He had bright blond hair that had been covered in dust and insulation. His sweatshirt was colored blue and white. The rest of him was dressed in casual jeans and canvas shoes.

Cole heard Kuo moan uncomfortably as they approached him closer. On the bed was the black husk of a child's corpse, incinerated by the Beast's powers.

The young man thumbed over its small, crusted hand as he quietly cried a name over and over again. "Nina… Nina…."

He had no idea he was being watched.

On the floor lay the corpse of another body with the contours of a woman. Cole only assumed that these were the bodies of his wife and young daughter.

His body began to radiate what looked like a pale lavender smoke. Cole motioned for his companions to take a step back. There was always significant danger when a Conduit's powers had just manifested, as often times they lacked restraint over their new abilities.

An instant later, the man was gone in an eruption of purple mist. Cole could feel the power growing before he had disappeared, like his ability required an intense burst energy to work.

He traced the presence elsewhere in the neighborhood. It bounced from one location to the next in no set order.

Looking to Torin he said, "When he comes back I need you to hold his hands together."

"His hands?"

"Conduits use their powers through their hands. Bind their hands, and they can't use their powers."

The officer nodded with interest, trusting in the expert knowledge Cole possessed of their kind.

"Here he comes…" said Cole, sensing the buildup of energy condensing before them.

The next moment, the man reappeared. Torin rushed up to him and grasped his hands before folding them behind his back.

The blonde was startled by his sudden arrest and struggled against the officer. "Are you kidding me? What are you cuffing me for now?"

"I'm not 'cuffing' you, Eddy," replied the officer calmly. "I'm only keeping you from disappearing again."

"...You are?"

Cole walked into his line of sight. "Your powers are reacting to your emotions. If you want him to let go, you need to calm down."

Eddy froze at the sight of him; not in fear but out of respect. Apparently, he had recognized him from the streets.

He stopped resisting Torin's grip and took a breath of air. "But why is this happening to me? I didn't want this. I didn't _ask_ for this. One minute I'm heading to the ice-cream shop for my niece to cool her fever, the next I was running for my life from some giant monster. Then I blacked out. When I came to, I found them like this. And whatever this is... I can't control it."

"Easy," Cole reminded him. He took a moment to repeat the same explanation he had given Torin, summarizing how the Beast, the Plague and his new powers were all related to each other.

When he was finished, Eddy hardly seemed angry at all to hear that Cole had assisted in the death of his loved ones. In fact, the news seemed to numb him more than agitate him. "Then I have you to thank for sending Nina and Jaime to a better place."

This response outright stunned the other Conduits. Kuo then questioned, "How can you be so comfortable about this? They were your family."

"Well, it's...not that I'm comfortable with it," Eddy admitted. "It's more like I was prepared for it. Nina's been sick with the Plague since last week. My sister has— _had_ — a habit of blowing all her money. I've been spending every dime I make bartending at the Bloody Mary to keep a roof over their heads for her, so medicine took a backseat."

"And that's why I caught you stealing from the pharmacy?" asked Torin quietly.

"Yeah. But it didn't matter either way. Nothing I gave her worked. The only thing that seemed to help was ice cream; it let her relax and be happy between fevers. I couldn't stand to see her suffer anymore, let alone watching her live such a stifled life the way Jaime handled money. Couldn't afford new clothes, kindergarten tuition or healthy food."

He paused as if he was having difficulty piecing together what he was going to say next.

"...Honestly, I was waiting for that thing—the Beast, you said? I wanted it to just take all of it away. We'd be able to be happy together afterwards, up in Heaven. No bills, no drugs, no Plague. I was hoping nobody would stop it. Not even you, Cole."

Cole was silent as Eddy finished his story. He was beginning to understand what kind of person he was; one with his heart on his sleeve, living for the sake of others and loyal to those he cared for most. He was a commodity that the world sorely lacked.

Kuo's voice broke the silence. "Eddy, I know this is hard for you, but you can't stay here. There are more people out there and the army is on its way. If we have time, we can help you bury them."

This offer saddened him, as if the thought of having to bury his sister and niece was something that hadn't occurred to him. He took another look at the corpses, and this time was deeply bothered like he could no longer handle the sight.

He inclined his head once and said, "Yes, I would appreciate that."

"The last ones are close to each other, but they're on the other side of town. We'd better hurry," reported Cole. Then he looked to Torin. "You can let him go."

Eddy grew nervous at his command. "But what if I disappear again to who knows where?"

"Just keep calm," Cole advised him. "You can't control your powers if you're afraid of them. Learn how to spend that energy in a way that's productive for you."

The young man took a moment to think. "If that's the trick to it, then there's something I need to know."

Cole waited for him to find the words to continue.

"I know you mentioned that the Beast gave us our powers...but you never explained how it worked. Why is it that some of us get powers out of it and others die? Why is it that I'm alive while Jaime and Nina…?"

"Conduits are people with a special mutation that gives us powers. The blast is meant to activate that mutation by drawing the electricity from normal people into a Conduit."

"So, the ones that die are essentially fuel for us."

"If that's how you want to put it."

This answer seemed to compliment a thought inside Eddy's mind. "Then...is that why I could hear all those voices when I blacked out?"

"Voices?" Torin asked. "You heard them too?"

Eddy was surprised to hear that he was not the only one who had experienced the phenomenon. "Yeah. It was like I was in a crowded room where everyone was talking at once. Somewhere in there I could hear Nina and Jaime calling my name. I just needed to know I wasn't crazy."

"You're not crazy," reassured Cole. "I heard voices too when I got my powers."

"So all those voices I heard were the people that I…" he paused, looking for the right word. "...absorbed?"

He didn't need another confirmation from anybody to understand what he had said made some strange, terrifying sense. Somehow this answer seemed to ease him.

With confidence he spoke to the man behind him. "Then go ahead. I think I can handle it."

Cautiously, Torin loosened his grip around his wrists. He remained tense, ready to grab hold of Eddy once more should he show any sign of vanishing again.

When he managed to remain in view for several seconds Eddy gave a satisfied half smile. "I think I've got it."

Next Cole led them to the marina at Pier 53, where sailors and fishermen alike began their venture out into the gulf whether to satisfy their hobby or supply their quota of shrimp and craw fish for work. Tourists could come here to take a tour of the bayou just beyond the dock. It had also been the location for the beloved Jaws Seafood Grill that doubled as a bait and tackle shop.

The docks neighboring the restaurant had been completely splintered and smashed into floating debris. Every boat, whether it had been powered by a motor or sail, had been capsized or tossed ashore onto the pier.

"Looks like taking a boat is out of the question," muttered Kuo disdainfully.

"We'll just have to find another way off the island," responded Cole distantly as if he had no interest in the topic at the moment.

* * *

The tickle in his brain led him to an overturned sailboat propped up against a twisted lamp post at the back of the grill. With Kuo's help, he was able to right the vessel onto its hull.

All the contents held inside had been toppled out on top of the tarp meant to keep the boat dry during the rains. Cole shoved aside the coolers and tackle boxes before pulling back the green sheet.

Underneath laid a tall and burly middle-aged man dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit. His dark brown hair was just as long and unkempt as his thick beard. Obviously he had not been given the opportunity to tend to his personal hygiene in prison. Even so, he was built well above average in terms of muscle mass.

He looked up and blinked several times like he hadn't seen daylight in centuries. He seemed tired as if he had only just woken up from a nap.

The prisoner's eyes darted around, finding the faces of the four people above him. But when he found the hot glare of Torin's eyes he appeared to instantly shrink.

A second later the officer had him by the collar and held him up against the metal post with such ease he might as well have weighed as much as a child, proof that his strength had been drastically improved after the blast. His fingers were clenched so tight that his knuckles turned bone white.

"I threw you in a hole on death row five years ago," growled Torin fiercely. "How are you still alive?"

"This is Louisiana," answered the prisoner brashly in a gruff voice. "You know as well as I do you're more likely to die of old age waiting for the executioner to call your name."

This response warranted several enraged blows to the face.

"Hey! Hey!" Cole yanked the officer away as if punishing a dog pleasing himself with his bitch. "What's wrong with you?"

"That man is a murderer!" roared Torin.

"Last I checked, good cops don't beat the shit out of people for no reason."

"Who do you think you are to lecture me, you genocidal—"

"Cole," said Kuo with a wary quiver. "Something's happening to him."

At the sound of confused grunts and shouts, Cole whirled around to see the escaped convict writhe and tense in pain. His voice began to deepen into low, guttural growls while his body was distorted into a larger, thicker, inhuman frame. As his body continued to change so too did the color of his skin that began to yellow and slowly bush into a thick coat of fur.

"A shapeshifter…." Cole muttered beneath his breath. He had Torin began to step away.

A few seconds later, what had once been the man's long tangled mess of hair had become part of his new body, covering his neck and chest. His fingers shortened as claws jutted from the ends of each nail and toe. The coccyx of his spine had elongated into a tensile tail.

It was at this point in the transformation that Cole realized he wasn't turning into some hideously deformed creature beyond imagination. He was becoming something familiar and recognizable in the natural world.

He had changed into a fully grown lion, a feat that somehow comforted Cole in the sense that he wasn't changing into an enormous behemoth like Bertrand or John. However, it still left him uneasy.

The man in the lion's skin breathed unevenly, his eyes clouded in the most human form of confusion an animal could achieve.

"He looks lost," Kuo observed quietly. "Maybe he can still understand us."

"Understand us?" questioned Torin. "He's a wild animal, he isn't capable of 'understanding' us."

"He's a Conduit, like us," Cole snapped at him. "And like every Conduit, he can't control his powers at first and neither can you."

Torin glared at him, left without a valid opinion on the subject.

"What's his name?" Cole asked.

"His name?" Torin scoffed. At the receiving end of a serious stare from the other, he sighed. "Richard Blaine."

Eddy glanced at him with wide eyes. " _That's_ Richard Blaine?"

Cole turned back to the large cat and leaned forward a bit, looking straight into it's gold eyes. "Richard? Can you hear me? I'm a friend."

The lion did not respond. The only sign that it still lived was the heavy snorts and breaths. It didn't even blink or twitch once.

"If you can understand what I'm saying, give me a sign. Move your paw."

He waited again for acknowledgement, but nothing came. Cole pondered whether he was like John or Bertrand— in control but unaccustomed to the change or detached from all sense of self and sanity.

"Screw it," said Torin impatiently, reaching around for his service pistol. "Might as well put him down and be done with it."

"No," Kuo reached for the weapon and pulled it to his side. "If you shoot him you'll only make things worse."

Cole called Richard's name one more time.

Feline eyes darted to meet his, dilating at the sight of him. Ears folded back, nose crinkled and teeth bared. The changeling Conduit let out a hungry growl.

Keeping his gaze fixed on Cole, he crouched low to the ground and slowly began to creep in a circle like a real predator hunting its prey.

"That's not good…." Eddy whimpered.

"Don't tell me you still plan on negotiating," whispered Torin.

Taking careful steps, Cole whispered back "I'll lead him around. Find somewhere safe to hide."

"What about you?" asked Eddy in concern.

"I've handled worse than a lion."

Once Cole was able to lead the animal to face away from his cohorts, they turned to run as they had been told.

Richard's ear's twitched at the sound of wood creaking beneath rushed footfalls, causing him to spin around. Unleashing a loud roar he began the chase, outright ignoring Cole's presence.

Just before he was able to round the corner after his prey, Cole took hold of the cat by the middle and tackled all four-hundred pounds of him to the ground. Richard thrashed and struggled against his superhuman might, unable to break from his grip.

With the full intent of quelling the changeling's uncontrolled rage before anyone could get hurt, Cole released enough electrical energy from his body to paralyze a large adult man. In his caution not to painfully electrocute Richard, his captive was able to roll onto his feet and toss Cole off.

An instant later, the lion pounced on top of him, pinning his left arm and chest with two heavy paws. Cole reached out his one free arm in an attempt to latch onto its face and administer a stronger, inoculating shock.

But Richard's new heightened reflexes were faster, sinking sharp fangs deep into his forearm, tearing at flesh and muscle. Cole let out an agonized shout, fighting to free his other hand to defend himself.

At the sound of a loud _crack_ , Richard cringed and howled in pain, releasing Cole's limb. It had been a gunshot from Torin's pistol, providing assistance from the bottom of the pier's stairs at the sight of the other Conduit in danger.

As he fired off more rounds, the lion left Cole bleeding on the boardwalk to attend to the more prominent threat. Torin's heart pounded as his adversary closed the distance in only a few seconds, shrugging off the impact of bullets without so much as a flinch in his rage.

Kuo shrieked for him to run, but fear mixed with a loyalty to duty kept him stubbornly firm in his spot.

Richard reared onto his hind legs at a full six and a half feet and swiped at him with one giant paw. With immense luck, only Torin's gun had been struck, flying from his hands toward the edge of the dock. The shock of the attack caused him to knock his heel against the bottom step, tumbling onto the flight of wooden stairs.

Just before Richard's forward momentum brought him down onto the officer, his neck was suddenly strung by a visible line of electricity, forcing him to stay upright and unable to reach his victim.

On the other end was Cole, fighting against the intense pain from his wounded arm to keep the tether taught.

"Go! Now!"

But even with the advice to take the chance to escape, Torin instead used the opportunity to retrieve his weapon.

Cole, seeing him scramble in any direction except for the street, sent another current into Richard's body. The cat howled in agony.

With brute force, he planted both front feet on the ground and gave a violent jerk. The forward motion pulled Cole face first into the dock.

As Torin dove for his gun, his shaky adrenaline probed fingers accidentally gave it the one inch of push it needed to tumble into the water. Cursing, he desperately stretched his arm into the bay to blindly search for it.

But a menacing growl warned him that he had no time to look.

He flipped onto his back to see Richard coming at him full-force, ready to take advantage of his poor positioning. His mind went blank out of fear, whipping his hand from the water to hopelessly block his face.

A strong torrent of water rushed to sweep the lion off of its feet. Immediately after came Cole to take on the cat one more time.

Torin was stunned, realizing that his hand still felt soaked, as if he had never removed it from the bay. Looking down his heart nearly jumped out of his chest.

From his fingertips to his elbow, water covered his arm in a thick sleeve, defying the nature of gravity and molecular bonding.

At the sound of gurgling water he looked back toward the bay. To his amazement he saw something he could only describe as physically impossible. There was a structure jutting out of the surface, made entirely out of water itself as if the bay developed self-awareness and created a malleable appendage.

He noticed that the form seemed to bend and wiggle in correspondence to the movement of his hand, like a snake dancing at the bidding of its charmer.

He looked back to Cole, who by this time had locked his fingers onto Richard's front paws, preventing himself from being pinned once more. Electricity surged into his opponent, yet somehow he still had the endurance to shake it off and snap his teeth at Cole's face.

Torin climbed to his feet, thrusting his arm weighted down by water toward the scuffle. He had hoped that his powers worked in a similar fashion to the motions he had seen from Cole. And in return, the same flood of water shot passed him.

In his haste he didn't even hear Kuo call out for him to stop. By then it was already too late, and Cole had been too busy defending himself to see it coming.

Although Torin's lack of experience using powers left the stream without much force, the simple amount of water was enough to cause unforeseen damage.

Upon being doused, lightning began to storm from Cole, bellowing in incomprehensible pain. Paralyzed, his muscles failed to release Richard at the other end of his hands, giving him the same unrelenting dose of electricity.

The roars, screams and sparks went on for longer than anyone dared to count, until finally the electric Conduit shorted out and the two of them collapsed to the floor.

Torin only stared flabbergasted as Cole's body continued to pitifully conduct whatever residue of electricity was still left inside him. With the danger passed and adrenaline replaced by sullen guilt, the water on Torin's arm slunk to the ground.

Kuo and Eddy raced down the stairs to his aid. As the woman cautiously took him into her arms and tried to shake him awake, Eddy asked hardly above a whisper, "He's not dead, is he? ...I mean, if it was that easy you'd think the militia would have carried around super-soakers."

"He's alive," reported Kuo with a tired sigh after setting two fingers at Cole's throat. "He's weak, but not dead. He lost a lot of electricity. We need to find a source for him to drain."

"The whole city's blacked out," said Eddy. "What can we do?"

"We can do this." Torin drew his taser from his belt and removed the cartridge from the end. At the press of the trigger, a small arc of electricity cracked between the two poles.

"It'll be a patch job at best," replied Kuo.

"It'll be good enough to wake him up and get him to a battery in one of these motorboats."

Kuo agreed and moved her arm away as Torin quickly approached and placed the end of the weapon at his chest. Almost instantly Cole took in a sharp breath as if he had been forced to hold his head underwater for several seconds. He then proceeded to wince and groan in pain before looking up at his female companion.

"That was too close."

"Be thankful you're alive. It could have been a lot worse."

"Cole," started Torin as he holstered his taser, "I am so sorry—"

"It's fine," the other said with a rasp. "You didn't know."

Behind them, Richard groaned in a strange human-creature hybrid voice as his body slowly returned to its natural shape. Torin didn't hesitate to restrain him in handcuffs before he could take the chance to harm anyone else, and to his surprise he didn't struggle against him at all.

In fact, he seemed to enjoy himself with a smile on his face.

"All that time on the force toughened you up, Davis. You punched me so damn hard I blacked out."

Torin glanced at him with squinted eyes. "Richard, you didn't black out. You turned into a lion."

This answer was met with unexpected uproarious laughter. "And you developed a sense of humor?"

"He's not joking," replied Cole, hardly awake himself.

The hefty man looked at him as if he had completely forgotten he was there. "I remember you. Didn't I see you tearing up the city with that…" He stopped to chuckle once more. "...giant thing?"

His reaction outright surprised Cole. How was he able to find something so unbelievable so funny? It was as if he thought it was all one huge prank.

"Yeah..."

"You look like shit."

"Why are you laughing?"

Past stifled laughs, Richard answered, "Because, this is all just another dream brought on by all those pills the warden gives us to keep us placid."

The four Conduits shared a confused stare.

"Don't know why I even bother explaining it to you. None of this is real. I'll wake up in a few minutes and go back to staring at the inside of a cell for the rest of my life."

Torin came around to his front and shined the light of his heavy duty flashlight into each of his eyes, watching his contracted pupils as they followed the light left to right without the smallest flutter.

He replaced the lamp into his belt. "Richard, you're not high on drugs. This isn't a dream; it's real."

The smile remained. "That's just what you hallucinations want me to think. Just shoot me so the shock can wake me up. I've had more pleasant dreams than this."

"I've already shot you," answered the other as he reached for the convict's bloody shirt and raised it. This caused Richard to wince in pain. "Six times."

The sight of six clean bullet wounds in his side turned Richard's skin paler than it had previously been from the loss of blood. His laughter and giddy smile were nowhere to be found.

Now he appeared to be seeing the destroyed city for the first time. The more trashed piers and wrecked buildings he saw, the more grounded his mood became. He looked to the officer with fearful eyes. "What the hell is going on?"

"That thing you saw—it gave us powers. You turned into a lion and attacked us. I had to do something."

"I did what…?" Richard could hardly believe what he heard. He looked to Cole, cradled by Kuo, and immediately found the gashes on both sides of his right arm.

"You don't remember anything?" asked Kuo.

His dark eyes met her pale blues, making him shiver under her gaze. "No."

In the silence he appeared to sink into a moment of clarity, like he was in between two cars crashing at the lines between fiction and reality. Whatever he did remember and wrote off as a dream suddenly carried the tangibility of a real-life crisis.

Giving him the privacy of his thoughts, Kuo assisted Cole to the nearest electric powered boat at the end of the dock, clearing away any obstructions in his path and pulling back the tarp. Richard watched in horror as blue ribbons flooded into his body, and the wounds on his limb faded away without leaving so much as a scar.

Seeing Cole revitalized comforted Torin, but only slightly. The guilt stayed with him that if he had just trusted him to do what he did best—be the hero—he may have gotten out of the scrap with just a bite.

Cole felt Richard's fear pierced him at the core. He had been cut off from society for five years. Everyone else had time to let the new strange nature of the world sink in before being hurled into their new life. He had been hiding behind lies to make sense of what he didn't understand.

He asked Kuo to find a first aid kit from within the boat before approaching him, instructing Torin to ease him on his side and to keep him still.

"What are you doing?" asked Richard.

"You're a Conduit now," answered Cole. "That makes you almost bullet proof and able to heal quickly. But there's no harm in helping it along." He held his hand above his side and said, "You might wanna hold your breath for this."

Before Richard was able to question his intent again, he let out a deafening shout. Torin pressed against him to keep him from moving at the intense pain.

Blood seeped from his wounds as the bullets were pulled from his body by magnetic attraction into Cole's palm. After counting to make sure he had removed all six he tossed the scarlet coated pieces of metal into the bay.

Kuo ripped open a small packet of antiseptic towelettes and dabbed the open sores, cleaning the blood and whatever dirt and grime could have gotten into them. The man took a sharp breath through clenched teeth. She then reached for a roll of gauze and began to wrap his waist with careful diligence.

"There," she said after biting off the excess tape. "You should be able to take those off in a few hours."

Richard scoffed and looked between them again. Then he settled on Cole and asked, "Why are you helping me? You heard him say it—I'm a murderer."

"It's a long story," the other answered, implying that tailoring an explanation for someone who had no clue on current events would only waste what precious time they had left. "What you need to know is that the army is coming, looking for people with superpowers to shoot. That bright orange outfit you've got on won't help you."

"So I take it you and I have a common sin."

"I don't think you've ever helped a giant monster destroy a city for the common interest of humanity."

Richard nodded with a crooked frown. He certainly didn't expect such honesty, no matter how outrageous it sounded. "Then I assume you have a plan to disappear."

"As soon as we find the last Conduit, we're heading to the mainland. It'd be in your best interest to come with us."

Richard paused to observe Torin's reaction, who did not seem pleased by the bartering. "And who's to say I won't be thrown into another prison when we get there?"

The officer looked to Cole, awaiting his answer.

"There is no prison for Conduits," he said, ignoring Torin's demanding glare. "The rest of the world sees you as a threat that needs to be dealt with. You'd be thrown into a grave, not a jail cell."

Although he didn't seem to favor being called a 'threat', a smile found it's way to Richard's face. "I'll take that as an official pardon of my crimes."

In contrast, Torin showed obvious displeasure. However, he bit his tongue and brought his nemesis to his feet.

Richard glanced to him and said, "The handcuffs, if you don't mind."

"I don't think so," replied the other.

"It's alright Torin," interjected Cole with confidence. "He won't be going anywhere. And if he loses control again, I know how many amps it'll take to calm him down."

Torin gave another suspicious stare at his captive, who answered in response, "You don't have to worry. Scout's honor."

The mock left a bitter taste in the cop's mouth, but nonetheless he unlocked the restraints and took it upon himself to urge the group to continue their search.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A word from the author: Please be courteous when leaving reviews. Leave constructive criticism and avoid posting spoilers.**_

 _ **If you like the story, follow 'LegacyOfTheBeastFiction' on Facebook for updates and posts from the author!**_

 _ **~Zivalene**_

* * *

 **inFAMOUS: Legacy of the Beast  
Chapter 4**

 _"Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss,_  
 _or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have—life itself."_

 _~Walter Anderson_

* * *

The last Conduit was located directly down the street from the marina, in the square where the city's iconic clock tower once stood high above the rest of the town.

On more than one occasion, Cole dared himself to reach the top of the tower's needle using only his skill in parkour. The view had been a sight to behold, looking over every building and street in New Marais, all the way into the swamps and marshes beyond.

The citizens who saw him perched on the spire had called him a guardian angel as he passed by. They had felt safe with him watching over them from up high, like he could see any crime on every corner in the city and swoop in to serve righteous justice like a real-life superhero.

After the blast, the clock tower had been sliced in half and toppled down into the length of the street below. Undoubtedly, citizens in panic had been caught beneath the wreckage and were more than likely given a quick death before being incinerated.

Evidently, a Conduit had been activated. The entire square was overgrown by plants and vines, snaking through the asphalt and surrounding buildings. Some structures even seemed to be unnaturally invaded by enormous trees with branches extending out through the windows.

In a disturbing way, it was the most peaceful thing the Conduits had seen since the Beast had begun his rampage. But even something that seemed so innocent had the power to be destructive; a point that was proven as vines continued to grow and swallow a whole car before crushing it like a giant squid and its prey.

"That'll be us if we stay here too long…." warned Kuo.

Eddy shivered. "Yeah, I'd rather not be plant food."

"Over here." Cole followed his additional sense in the direction of the new Conduit. His mouth became dry the closer it led him to the fallen tower. He feared that the person they were looking for had not been as fortunate as they were.

However, the increased activity of the plants and vines around it reassured him that there was still a chance to save them.

The trail ended at one of the clock's faces, where the five could make out the shape of a small woman pounding her fist against the other side of the opaque glass. Although they were relieved to see her alive, there was still the daunting fact that she had been so close to being crushed.

Without wasting a second, Cole ionized his limbs with electrified blades. He held his breath, taking a hefty swing with his right arm and was met with the cacophony of shattering glass.

He stepped inside slowly, calling that it was safe to come outside. But to his surprise, it wasn't a woman inside of the condemned tower. Rather it was a young girl, hardly in her teenage years.

She had spent a good amount of time crying judging from the red tint in her green eyes and the rosy color to her cheeks. Her chestnut hair was covered in dust and her freckled skin was tattered with tiny cuts.

When he held out his hand to help her safely past the glass scattered on the ground, she instead broke into a run.

As she passed, he took her by the arm. "Wait, it's alright. We're here to help you."

She struggled against him, trying to pry open his grip while pulling as hard as she could. "I don't want your help, Demon! Let me go!"

Suddenly, the ground burst into a flurry of tensile vines and stems around Cole, sprouting at an alarming rate. They quickly wrapped around his torso and shoulders as if they had a mind of their own.

They exerted an intense pressure on his muscles, causing him to let go of the girl as more began to constrict the rest of his body.

Frightened and confused, she took her chance to run again.

"Cole!" Kuo rushed to his aid alongside Richard. The two tore and ripped at the plants trying to free him. For every two they pried away, four more took their place.

Soon enough, the threat had become so overwhelming that the overgrowth spread to the two rescuers and quickly rendered them both bound and immobilised.

"Someone catch her," Cole ordered. "Calm her down!"

Torin and Eddy immediately turned to give chase. They were able to confidently close the gap with their longer legs and developed muscles.

The child glanced behind herself, eyes widening as the two men came closer and picked up the pace.

Eddy felt something grab him by the foot. He plummeted chin first into the concrete.

Torin stopped and spun around but at the other's demand, he continued to pursue her as more vines angrily creeped towards him.

Slowly, the green fingers took a greater hold on his leg, making their way to his torso. He tried to crawl away but found the grip incredibly strong for a plant. His breath became quick and shallow the closer they came to swallowing him whole.

As his fear intensified so too did the purple hue his powers produced. An instant later he felt himself rushing through space. The world around him blurred into a miasma of colors until he crashed back into normalcy. The stop threw his heart against his chest.

Readjusting himself he realized he had moved several feet from where the plants had held him captive. Up ahead Torin was still sprinting after the girl with the never-ending horde of plants surfacing from beneath the street to stop him, just missing his frantic feet by only inches each time.

They weren't about to let Eddy get away.

He jumped to his feet and shot after the officer before they could ensnare him again. He quickly found that the distance between them only grew wider as the seconds passed. Torin's training as a cop had obviously served him well.

Desperately wanting to catch up in case his cohort was caught, he internally urged for his powers to work without any real idea of how to make them do what he wanted. An instant later, the gap between the two shortened considerably. Although he was still unaware of exactly what the magic on-switch to his powers were, he had never felt more in control.

He picked a spot on the pavement and took aim, and ended up appearing within a few feet of his intended target. Once or twice he ended up going left instead of right, but he still refused to give up.

Meanwhile, the ferocious plants had almost completely encased the three trapped Conduits in a thick tangle of stems and vines. With his hands tightly wrapped, Cole could only make a feeble struggle that served no purpose but to tire him out.

To his right he could hear an increased struggle coming from Richard. "Cole, I can feel it happening! Everything's going black...!"

The other looked at him in his peripheral vision. He could make out that his hands hadn't been bound yet, and that the rest of him was beginning to turn hairy and brown.

"Fight it, Richard," he gasped. "Either fight it or use it!"

On his other side he could tell that Kuo was not having as much difficulty as they were. In fact, the plants almost appeared reluctant to keep her in their grasp. They were avoiding the part of her arms that were cold enough to chill the air.

She seemed to be aware of this fact as well. At Cole's request, she released a freezing mist into the air around her. As the temperature dropped, the flora quickly released her and retreated back into the ground, turning brown and shrivelled the longer they remained above the surface.

Without stopping to take a breath she approached Cole and repeated the action, pulling the numb tendrils away from him. Their grip lessened until they either escaped or fell limp to the ground.

Then the two proceeded to free Richard, who by now had become some bizarre hybrid of a man and a bear. Even with his physical change it was clear that his consciousness still remained, trying to resist the transformation.

Without the vines to hold him he fell to his knees, going to and from bear-like to human with every fleeting moment. However, he was soon able to revert back to his natural form with the stimulus of danger passed.

Cole praised him on keeping his powers in check before the three hurried after the others.

Eddy was so close now to Torin that he could trip him if he so dared. One more jump would be able to finally put the chase to an end.

With one more build up of aura the tunnel of colors returned. But when he came out of the abstract world, he found himself catching a street lamp rather than a fleeing girl. The front of his body felt split in two and his skull rang in pain.

Even though he had completely failed to capture the girl, his mistake had drawn her attention and slowed her down. Torin took this window of opportunity to launch himself at her, angling himself so that his chest would serve as a cushion for her on the way down.

She fought against him, squirming and kicking as he forced her hands together. "Let me go!"

Without breath, he returned, "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you."

"It's not you I'm afraid of. It's them." She jerked her head toward the plants sneaking toward them.

"You don't need to be afraid of them. They're your powers."

"Powers...?"

In a flurry of snow, Kuo appeared and released a stream of ice at the attacking flora. They immediately frosted and withered away.

"We all have powers," Torin reassured. "These plants are coming from you. They're acting off your fear. If you want them gone you need to calm down."

At this point the girl no longer fought with him. But it took several more attempts to relax her under the stress and confusion of the situation. Kuo was able to hold off the plants long enough for them to begin dying on their own; even the trees and growths in the buildings.

Torrin commended her on her bravery and helped her to her feet.

At this point the remaining four Conduits joined them and each introduced themselves to the girl. When it came time for Cole to present himself she interrupted him with a blunt, "I know who you are. You're the one Bertrand warned us about."

"Believe me, Bertrand wasn't the saint he made himself out to be," said Cole in earnest. "He was using the city as a breeding ground for his own personal army. He was kidnapping innocent people off the streets and turning them into monsters to make people fear Conduits."

Eddy looked to him with an intense interest.

Before he could inquire more on the subject, the girl only replied with a condescending "He was right, wasn't he? My mom is dead because of you. Why shouldn't I be afraid of you?"

As she opened up to her anger and fear, more plants began to sprout from the concrete. Torin squeezed her arm firmly to remind her to stay calm. She looked down to see the growths acting on their own and quickly sulked, ashamed. Even after they subsided the frown on her face remained.

Cole recognised that face. It was the same face Kuo had when she accidentally froze his cheek her first day as a Conduit. It was the one that said she knew she was meant to be feared.

As he knew all too well, what is new and misunderstood was often mistaken for dangerous and threatening. Humans with superpowers were no different.

Eddy saw Cole's hesitation, knowing he had more to say but couldn't find the words to say it without setting her off again. He took it upon himself to come before the girl and lower himself to her eye level.

"Hey... It's okay to be afraid. What's your name?"

"Julia," she said quietly.

"Listen to me for a sec, Julia. None of us asked to get these powers. Most of us don't know what to do with ourselves. And we sure didn't ask to live when the ones we love all had to die. But you heard her, didn't you? You heard your mom before you woke up?"

Past welling eyes she looked up into his. "How did you know?"

"Because I could hear my family, too. And I know this is gonna sound pretty lame, but your mom gave you your powers. She's not really gone; she's just part of you now."

Julia sniffled once. "That does sound lame."

"But it's true. Instead of thinking that your powers are dangerous, just think about how your mom is using them to help you—to protect you. It's what I do to keep both my feet on the ground."

Crossing his arms, Cole stared impressed at Eddy. Now he understood why he had such an interest in knowing what had become of his loved ones.

Instead of thinking of it as a demented tribute, he saw it as a way to cope with his loss as well as his gain. It also explained how he went from being totally incapable of keeping his powers in check to nearly being able to call upon them at will.

Granted, he still had a lot to learn.

His philosophy seemed to rub off on her almost instantaneously.

Then she asked, "So what did he have in mind for 'saving us'?"

"He means we need to head north as soon as we can, before the army gets here."

"Aren't they coming to help us?"

"Not us, no. That's why we need to leave." Eddy's answer troubled her. "But it's gonna be fine. Cole's not going to let anything happen to us."

Julia leered at him like his words were hollow and not to be trusted.

"Is that everyone?" asked Kuo.

Cole confirmed, feeling that all the pieces he had once sensed now appeared to come together like one whole being. Somehow it comforted him.

"Now all that's left is to find a way out of the city," she surmised.

"We could use one of the ships from the harbor," Torin offered.

"No," declined Cole. "Those were the ships Bertrand was using to export his Forced Conduits across the globe. I had to disable them before they were able to sail."

"And all of the smaller boats on the piers are capsized. The only other way north is to fly," offered Kuo.

"By the time we find a working helicopter, _if_ there is one, the military would have arrived before then," the officer said.

There was silence as the adults glanced between each other looking for a solution. They converged on Cole as he put his finger to his chin.

"What if we don't need to look for a chopper?" he thought out loud. "Why don't we let the military hand-deliver one to us?"

The others looked to him with confused faces until Richard voiced their collective thoughts. "Isn't the point to escape before they get here?"

"Think about it. They'd have to send a scouting team to check for any danger. The rest would come after they send the all clear signal. We just have to stop them from getting the message out and swipe the chopper when they land."

Eddy bit his lip. "I don't know about this…."

"What if we're caught?" asked Torin. "We have a little girl with us—we can't afford to get shot at."

"Then it'll be my problem, not yours," answered Cole. The others traded insecure stares between themselves. Then he looked to Kuo. "You know how to fly one of those things, right?"

"Oh…" She stuttered in response. "It's been awhile since I flew one. John was always the better pilot."

"Good enough. If anybody has a better idea, speak up."

They remained quiet, some shaking their heads with uncertainty.

"We're gonna get through this, don't worry. If there's anything you need to take care of before we leave, do it now. We won't be coming back anytime soon."


	5. Chapter 5

_**A word from the author: Please be courteous when leaving reviews. Leave constructive criticism and avoid posting spoilers.**_

 _ **If you like the story, follow 'LegacyOfTheBeastFiction' on Facebook for updates and posts from the author!**_

 _ **~Zivalene**_

* * *

 **inFAMOUS: Legacy of the Beast  
Chapter 5**

 _"Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live."_

 _~Norman Cousins_

* * *

With what precious time they had left, the Conduits each separated into three groups. Cole and Kuo accompanied Eddy to fulfill their promise to help him bury his family. Torin escorted Julia to her home to help her find supplies for the trip. Richard went on his own, swearing to return on the terms that he wouldn't miss his only chance at freedom.

His heart heavy and shoulders slumped, Eddy took his niece, Nina, into his arms while Cole followed him out carrying the sister.

Without shovels to dig a proper grave, they walked the cemetery just east of the cul-de-sac he once called home until they were able to find two empty stone coffins among the thousands of occupied crypts and headstones.

Gently, they set them inside as if they were made of the most fragile glass, crossing their arms and hands over their hearts. The only sound that could be heard were the quiet gasps for air as tears well up in Eddy's eyes and trickled down his face.

Seeing his grief as they performed the deed reminded Cole of the day he buried his girlfriend, Trish, in Empire City. He had slaved for hours into the night, stopping only after making a small cross from pieces of splintered wood and placing his most cherished photo of her above the grave. Somehow, he had managed to fall asleep beside her one last time. Faintly, he remembered waking up to sticky wet stains on his cheek.

As deep as his wound was, he knew that what he had experienced was nearly pleasant in comparison to what Eddy was feeling. He hadn't lost a dear friend—he had lost family. He had spent his whole life getting to know and love them, working long hours to give them a comfortable living at his own expense.

Guilt stabbed at Cole's heart as Eddy placed one hand on the cover of his niece's coffin, closing his eyes and trying to hold back his sorrow for one moment of silent prayer.

No one else deserved the blame more than him. He had the chance to stop this from happening, even dared to take back his sin. By the time shame had told him to turn back, he had already crossed the line.

Once his prayer had been delivered, Eddy opened his eyes and ran his hand across the cross carved into the stone. Hardly above a whisper without sustenance he asked, "What kind of world is this where someone so young can be thrown away so easily?"

' _A world I chose to create…'_ thought Cole, feeling his fingers curl into a fist.

There were so many thing he wanted to say. But the only thing that made it past his lips was, "I'm sorry, Eddy…"

"Don't be," he replied without looking away. "God just had different plans for them than me. You did it to save the ones that could be saved. There was nothing else you could do."

Eddy's ignorance might as well have been a punch in the gut and two fingers jabbed in his eyes.

"Cole…." Kuo whispered his name. Looking to her, she nodded her head toward his balled hand with intense eyes.

He followed her gaze to find his skin burning in fire and cinder. His pulse skipped, making sure Eddy hadn't noticed before hiding it behind his back. His anger toward himself had sparked the flame.

His lack of control embarrassed him. He was a hypocrite, trying to teach others how to control their new powers when his grip was just as slippery as theirs.

The last thing he needed was the Conduits knowing what he really was. Their trust in him was only fastened by the promise he could get them out of the city safely.

If they knew the creature that destroyed their homes and slaughtered their families stood only an arm's length away from them, the panic and distrust would be irreparable. Without that trust, they wouldn't follow him anywhere let alone onto a helicopter across the bay.

To distance himself from triggering thoughts, Cole took the subject in a different direction.

"You know, I'm proud of you Eddy. Most people wouldn't be able to function after going through something like this. But you turned it into something productive, to help you control your powers. And passing it on to Julia—that'll save her a lot of grief in the future."

He turned away from the graves and sighed, looking Cole in the eye. "Glad you think so. Trying to keep Jaime and Nina happy for so long made me a pretty good actor."

Cole stared at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"All that mushy 'they're part of you' stuff I said. It's just a lie I choose to believe. I know they're dead, and whatever I took from them were just synapses and neurons. The only real thing that makes it easier is knowing out of the two ways they were going to die, this was the better way. But everyone else probably won't be able to pick themselves up so easily. Somebody had to give them a little hope to hold on to."

Cole frowned. Eddy truly was a wonder. His optimistic disposition was all an act for the sake of other people. Inside, he was in just as much pain as everyone else.

"You really think it was just a load of crap?" asked Cole.

"Well..." Eddy started after taking a deep breath. "If you tell a lie enough times it becomes the truth, right? Something tells me I'll have plenty of time to tell it over and over again."

Kuo nodded in thought. "That's very admirable of you, Eddy."

"Yeah…" he muttered, trailing off. He took another glance at the graves, as if telling his niece and sister goodbye one last time, then turned back to face them. "I could use a change of scenery. Anybody up for a few Bloody Marys?"

Kuo gave Cole a stern stare, who in return gave her a crooked smile. "A few shots wouldn't hurt," he answered without her permission.

She gave a disgusted groan in response.

Together, the three made the short walk to the entertainment district. Once bustling and filled with light and life, it was now reduced to dim silence and scattered corpses.

Cole and Kuo noticed Eddy's pace begin to slow and finally stop. His eyes were fixed to the ground at Cole's feet.

Following his line of sight, a violent chill ran down the electric man's spine. He was standing in an indention of a footprint the size of a large truck left by John during their rampage. The feeling of a sponge tossed into the sea returned to his chest. It hadn't crossed his mind how much destruction he was now capable of unleashing— so much so that he could do this kind of damage in a single step.

There had been a time where he wanted power such as this; when the world needed to be saved from an unstoppable monster. Now he was the monster. The only purpose such power served was to destroy everything in its path.

He tried not to think about what would happen should he one day lose control of all that power.

Eddy scoffed in a way that sounded like a half chuckle. "It's a crazy world we live in now." He looked up into the sky as if he were remembering how tiny and insignificant he had been compared to the gargantuan stature of the Beast.

He shook his head then said, "Come on. Those drinks sound really good right about now."

Kuo saw the burden shown on Cole's face and placed her hand on his shoulder. Hardly a second later he pulled away from her. "I'm fine."

She frowned, able to recognize that he was anything but fine.

They followed Eddy to the Bloody Mary bar just on the other side of the block. Among the structural damage to the windows and walls, the building had been jarred from its foundation, tilting into the side of a neighboring casino. The bartender was left speechless seeing his place of employment in such disrepair.

The door leading into the establishment had been completely thrown from its hinges. Tables and chairs had been flung from their resting places to several random places across the floor. Not a single piece of decoration remained hooked to the wall and instead was crumpled against the base boards. Even the bar stools at the counter that had been screwed to the hardwood floor were now located on the opposite end of the room.

Even more disturbing was the amount of patrons who had actually stayed during all the turmoil and gunfire and now remained as blackened shadows of anorexic corpses.

Eddy swallowed the grotesque taste in his mouth. "Uh...take a seat, I guess. I'll see if I can salvage anything to drink."

Cole and Kuo approached the counter and righted two stools to sit on, albeit wobbly and unstable without their moorings. Kuo could only stand it a few seconds before she fashioned her own weights out of ice at the base of the chairs. She gave a relieved sigh with a roll of her eyes, to which Cole could only chuckle at her impatience.

Eddy moved behind the bar, making a disgusted sound as he came closer to the register. He leaned forward out of few before resurfacing with a cadaver over his shoulders. "Sorry, Stacy. No sleeping on the job."

He relocated his former co-worker to the mess of chairs and tables.

He then returned to his post with a sloshing sound as he walked mixed with the cracking of glass. When Cole leaned forward to take a look, Eddy answered, "All the fixings spilled out onto the floor. At least it's not my job to clean it up anymore…"

He ducked behind the counter one more time. Glasses chimed as they bumped into each other as he scuffled through the shelves. Running his fingers through his hair with a dissatisfied groan as he came back up, he turned to the wall behind him to find no glassware in tact.

"Ah," A smile came to his face. "I bet I know where I can find what we need. I'll be right back."

Then he disappeared behind two black doors.

After a few seconds passed without Eddy coming back through the doors, Kuo looked at Cole and in a hushed voice asked, "Are you okay?"

"I told you, I'm fine."

"You say that, but I can tell you're not. Talk to me. If there's anything I can do to help—"

"You can't."

Kuo frowned, feeling useless as she watched him grimace in pain and clench his fist before letting out a slow breath. "At least tell me what it's like. We're in this together, Cole. Don't shut me out."

He hesitated, uncurling his fingers. Then he looked to her and said, "It feels like John stuffed his powers into me way too tight, like there was no room for it in the first place. It's like being a balloon with too much air in it. Every now and then the air's gotta seep out and I can't plug the hole. Eventually I'm gonna explode..."

Kuo leaned in toward him. "Maybe that's exactly what you need. We have to get you to the next city as fast as possible. All that tension can't be good for you."

Cole chewed his lip at her proposal. Of course he was prepared to release as many Ray Field blasts as it took to complete his mission. He only hoped that the explosion he set off wouldn't carry hundreds of small pieces of himself along with him.

Eddy then burst through the doors carrying several boxes stacked on top of each other, blocking his view. He leaned to the right to see where he was going then plopped them onto the counter. "Didn't think I'd be able to handle all that. I'm guessing it has something to do with the powers."

"Don't mention it," replied Cole, pretending the conversation that had transpired between himself and Kuo never happened.

Eddy unstacked each box one by one, taking a box cutter he apparently found in the back and opened them. From them he removed three glasses, two mixing canisters, and a bottle of vodka.

"Thank God for bubble wrap," he smiled.

Then he moved to the refrigerator in the corner of his space and grabbed a bottle of tomato juice, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, a bag of ice and a small tub of lime slices. Although power had been lost to the whole city, the inside still retained a faint chill. Then he bent down out of view once more and took salt and pepper shakers into his fingers.

Coming back to the counter he placed all his ingredients on the marble. He lined up the three glasses and sampled each with the spicy fixings. He dipped one of the mixers into the bag of ice.

He looked to his patrons with a grin. "Wanna see something cool?"

"Oh, you're one of _those_ bartenders," Cole mused with a smile.

"It's what they hired me for."

With accuracy that proved he had dedicated several hours to practicing the routine, he took the vodka and ice and tossed them between his hands and behind his back, simultaneously humming a tune. Once or twice he bumped the glass bottle off his shoulder in between pours and caught it inside the cup filled with ice.

At the end of his act, he topped off the concoctions with a slice of lime wedged onto the lips of the glasses.

"Very impressive, Eddy," praised Kuo warmly.

"It kept the customers coming back and my tip jar full. Which, by the way…"

"Yeah, yeah," Cole teased, reaching for one of the glasses. "Just give me my damn drink."

With a genuine laugh, Eddy handed Kuo her drink and lifted his own into the air. "Then let's toast… To those who were lost, and those of us who survived."

Kuo raised her glass. "Here's to a fresh start."

Cole pressed his lips together and tapped his finger on the glass. He looked to Kuo and lifted his drink. "To John."

She nodded softly. "...to John."

Their glasses came together with a clink, then they each took a sip of Eddy's signature creation.

They commended him for the taste of the drinks and he thanked them for their generosity.

There was silence as they continued to enjoy the Bloody Marys. After about a minute, Eddy placed his glass on the counter and folded his arms under his chest as he leaned in. "It's funny. I could have sworn I put more vodka in it. I'm not getting the same buzz I'm used to."

"Takes a bit more alcohol to get a Conduit drunk," said Cole.

Eddy nodded with a disappointed groan. "I know I've already thanked you enough for the Conduit thing, but there's one thing I haven't had a chance to thank you for yet."

Cole set his drink on the table waiting for him to continue.

"This isn't the first time you've saved me, actually. It was maybe the same day you came to New Marais. The militia had grabbed me on the way home from work, lumped me together with about four other people and put a gun to my back telling me to walk. I didn't know where they were taking me, but I knew it was the same place they take all the people that never come back. All I could think of was what would happen to Jaime and Nina after they were done with me."

He swished the ice in his glass around and took a swig.

"They were about to load us into the back of one of their trucks when you showed up, all heroic and badass. I wanted to thank you then, but honestly I was so relieved that I didn't get the chance."

Cole inclined his head slowly, not wanting to admit that he couldn't place his face or the event. He had saved hundreds of people from being abducted by the militia and couldn't possibly remember every person he rescued.

"Bertrand had some way of figuring out who had the Conduit gene. But most of the time they lynched any person he pointed to for the hell of it."

"When you said he was turning people into those monsters... That's what he was going to do to me, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Cole replied. "Do you remember ever seeing a huge tick looking thing stomping around town?"

"Sure, once or twice. Some people said it came from the swamps, making those other monsters."

"That was Bertrand. The _real_ Bertrand."

Eddy scrunched his eyes. "So all this time, a Conduit's been telling us to be afraid of Conduits? Why would he do that?"

"Because he thought Conduits were the blight of society. He thought we were the step in evolution that humanity was never meant to take. But I don't think he needed to convince anybody. The Beast already had everyone scared of Conduits before New Marais caught on."

Eddy watched as Cole brought his glass to his lips. "So you don't think humans and Conduits can ever live together? You think they'll just see us as monsters and we'll be running for the rest of our lives?"

"I don't think it was always impossible. But with the way it is now, our lives aren't going to be easy."

Eddy pursed his lips at his answer.

Kuo waited to see if the conversation would continue before she spoke up. "Eddy, do you happen to have a map laying around anywhere?"

"Sure do. You'd be surprised how many people duck in here asking where to go. What kind do you need? A state map?"

"Of the whole country, if you have one."

"You don't waste any time, do you? Already planning out the hobo lifestyle."

He reached for a drawer beneath the cash register and handed her a large map folded into small squares. Finishing the last bit of his drink he declared, "I'd better go get my extra change of clothes from the back."

"You keep a spare change of clothes here?" asked Cole.

"I take it you've never worked a triple shift. Now let's see if I've got this teleporting thing down yet…"

In a cloud of pale lavender smoke, he vanished. A moment later there came a clatter of dishes from the back room.

"Eddy?" Kuo called out to him.

"Still don't got it!" He called back.

With a short laugh, she unfolded the map and reached for a pen across the counter. Starting from Empire City in the far northeast, she circled the capital of each state down the East Coast and through to New Marais. Then she proceeded to cross out each of those circles with an 'X'. She continued to circle each capital in the country before resting the pen and looking to Cole.

"According to the news, John hit every capital from here to Empire City. Given the increased population in those cities, we should do the same."

"What about major cities? They'd be just as promising as hitting the capitals."

"I shouldn't have to remind you how pressed for time we are on this. If we are going to hit those places, they need to be on the way to the next capital or have enough people living there to be worth the time."

"Then we need to plot out the path." Cole took the pen from her fingers. "We should try heading north. Most of those states are already infected. If we move fast enough, we should be able to raise up a few Conduits before the cities completely die off. And if we're lucky, we might even start to outrun the Plague by the time we head back south."

"That could work," Kuo agreed. "Let's try it."

Cole connected the circles with dashed lines running from New Marais to the far north section of the country. "First stop… Jackson."

Kuo watched him point to the circled star on the map. "That's almost a two-hundred mile trip. It'll take us days to get there on foot."

"Maybe we'll be able to find a truck or something. Cars and me just don't mix."

"We won't need a truck if you just—"

Eddy came back through the doors with a black swiss backpack. "Sorry it took me so long. The lockers fell flat on the floor. But they were no match for my super strength."

He glanced at the map just before Cole was able to fold it up and place it in his own backpack with the pen he had used to mark it.

"So," Eddy returned to the counter, "where in the whole wide world are we going to start calling home?"

"Still up in the air," Cole replied. "Let's worry about getting off the island first. If we make it that far, then we can figure out the best place to hole up for a while."

"Y'know, I've been thinking…." Eddy took the glass closest to him in his hand and teetered it on the counter. "Whatever happens after today will be the start of my new life. I think I'm ready to leave all this behind; start somewhere new and make a better life than I had here."

Cole was surprised by his proposal. He still didn't know about their plan to continue saving Conduits. Whatever life Eddy had pictured in his head wouldn't last long. It'd only be reduced to rubble, just like his first attempt at life.

"I don't know, Eddy," he muttered softly. "It'll be hard to blend in with society. If one person finds out you have powers, they'll start putting up posters with your face on them. And I don't mean the kind they use for celebrities."

"Then I'll just have to make the best of being a Conduit. I loved my family, but I don't want to go back to living like a dog with ticks feeding off me every day. I want to bury who I used to be beside them. I want to start again as someone else."

He placed his hand flat on the opening of the glass, keeping it still on the counter.

"I don't want to be 'Eddy the human' now on I'll be 'Rush', the Conduit."

Cole looked him in the eye. He could tell Eddy was serious about his new identity. It was more than just a change of name to him. It was the first step to accepting the way things had changed and moving on.

"In that case," the electric man held out his hand, "it's good to meet you, Rush."

'Rush' took his hand tightly with dedication. "Wouldn't be here if it weren't for you."

There came a low, droning sound from outside, breaking through the dead silence of the city.

"Sounds like our ride's here," said Cole with a confident grin.


	6. Chapter 6

_**A word from the author: Please be courteous when leaving reviews. Leave constructive criticism and avoid posting spoilers.**_

 _ **If you like the story, follow 'LegacyOfTheBeastFiction' on Facebook for updates and posts from the author!**_

 _ **~Zivalene**_

* * *

 **inFAMOUS: Legacy of the Beast**  
 **Chapter 6**

 _"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another."_  
 _~Anatole France_

* * *

Uncertain that they would be able to gather provisions from both of their residences, Torin used the time to ensure that Julia would have what she needed once they left New Marais. Anything he required, such as clothes or survival tools, could be purchased in another town.

Whatever horrors that were in wait for him at his ruined home could stay tucked away in the confines of his imagination.

Half-way across town, Torin followed Julia to her home on the south end of town. It was a standard home meant to fit a family of three. The yard was small, but it was evident by the cleanliness of the grass and surrounding planters that someone had been a gardener.

Coming up to the front door, Julia tried to turn the knob but found it unwilling to budge. "It's locked," she told the officer. "Mom had the only set of keys."

"She never thought of leaving a spare one under the mat or in the garden?"

"No. She didn't feel safe leaving them where anybody could find them if they looked hard enough."

Torin stepped up to the door and tried the lock himself, finding it secure.

He instructed the girl to step back, then rammed his shoulder into the wood several times. His newfound strength came to be invaluable, allowing him to loosen the latch enough to kick it in without much effort.

Inside, the house had been reduced to shambles. Lamps and hanging light fixtures had crashed to the floor as well as any decorations such as fake plants or pictures that had been set on wooden cabinets. For the most part, the heavier furniture hadn't been disturbed except for a large chunk of ceiling that had fallen on the kitchen table and essentially smashed it in half.

The officer's eyes were attracted to a cracked frame on the floor housing what looked like a statutory medal of achievement.

Julia gasped, on the verge of tears as she spotted something lying motionless on the red rug in the living room. She moved towards it slowly, stopping just inside the room. It appeared to be the body of a cat with its fur burnt to the roots.

"...Juniper," whimpered the girl.

Worrying that the sight may invoke her powers, Torin took a blanket from the back of the couch and tossed it onto the feline.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Get what you need so we can leave. The less your powers act up, the better. At least until you learn to control it."

She nodded and led him upstairs. The wooden steps creaked under the weight of their feet.

On the seventh step up, Julia's foot fell through the board. Torin took her by the underarms and lifted her to the next step, taking one large bound to skip two boards.

On the second floor, she brought him to the white door at the end of the hall to her room.

Inside was a twin-sized bed against the far wall. It had once been clean and properly made before being blanketed in insulation and drywall from the hole in the ceiling. The window above it had also been smashed, leaving shattered glass all over the beige carpet.

This room, much like the living room, had been decorated with real and fake flowers on the walls and on the dressers.

"I take it you have a thing for flowers," said Torin as the girl opened a closet door and retrieved a light blue backpack and dumped all its contents of books and pencils onto the floor. Obviously, it had been her school bag before today.

"Not me; it was my mom. She was the florist at the flower shop down by the clocktower. She always used to tell me that flowers could spread life to everything they touched, so she decorated my room the way she liked it."

Julia folded a few blouses and placed them in the bag along with a pair of shorts and several changes of undergarments.

"If it were up to me I'd put up some kitten posters, music band merchandise, or something."

"Did you believe her?"

"No. She'd take me to her shop every once in awhile to help out. I don't understand how people like having flowers in their homes. They'd pay her twenty dollars for something so fragile that dies in a week. But they always went to her asking for bouquets when someone passed away. So I guess everyone else believed her."

She stared into her bag, like she had seen something transfixing inside.

"Listen to me…talking about her like she's been dead for days. But it wasn't even an hour ago when she was asking me what I wanted for dinner tonight. None of it feels real."

"That's what it's like to lose someone important to you," answered Torin. "You're so used to seeing them every day, then you turn around and no one's there. For a while you'll keep looking for them, hoping they'll just magically walk through the door like they used to. But something just feels wrong, like there's a wrench in your routine."

Julia looked to him, trying to keep from crying. "You sound like you know what you're talking about."

"I do," he admitted. "I lost my father five years ago. His death was so sudden, I didn't have time to prepare. I still have days where I expect him to come slinking through the door after a long day's work. It's a pain that never really goes away. All you can do is adjust to a new routine."

"A routine…" murmured Julia thoughtfully. "What is our routine going to be from now on?"

"I don't know," said the officer quietly. "First things first; we escape the city and find a new home. I don't know what Cole has planned, or if he even has one. But if we want life to go back to being as normal as possible, we need to get better control of our powers."

"I don't want to think about powers right now," snapped the girl. "Powers are what got my mom killed and made me a freak. And the army's gonna be after me for the rest of my—"

She stopped short of finishing her thought. It was as if she remembered something important.

She stood and moved to a small night stand at the head of her bed. She opened the top drawer and took out a small heart shaped charm looped onto a thin gold chain. With the nail of her thumb she split the charm into two halves, hypnotized by a picture inside.

"I wonder what my dad would say if he knew I had powers."

Torrin peeked over her shoulder at the tiny photo. In it was Julia, a tall red-headed woman and a man with buzzed brown hair. Her parents held her with warm smiles.

What caught his attention was the attire her father wore; green and hazel fatigues typically worn by those who served the military on casual days.

"What branch does he serve in?"

"The marines. I haven't seen him much since he joined four years ago. He's been overseas fighting the terrorists. He'll come home for a few months during the holidays and maybe a couple times throughout the year, then he goes back."

Her shoulders slumped as she took an unsteady breath.

"What if he sees me as a terrorist? When he finds out I have powers, he'll—"

"He's not going to hurt you, Julia. Your father would never consider it, whether you're a Conduit or not."

"You don't know that," she stared emptily at him. "You don't know anything about him."

Torin frowned. "Maybe not. But I had a daughter of my own. If I was ordered to kill her just because she was different, I'd stand by her with every fiber of my being. Any father would."

Despite his attempt to reassure her, Julia did not appear any less troubled. "But what if—"

She gasped at a crash of porcelain behind her.

A vase of flowers had toppled from dresser to the floor. Strangely, the flowers that had been an ugly mess of compost moments before were now vibrant and colorful once more.

And it wasn't just this bouquet of flowers, it was all of the plants that had been strewn across her room. Julia was fixated to the bright reds and yellows in the vase on her nightstand.

She was startled as something plopped to the floor across the room. A book had fallen from a shelf to the floor. The curious thing was that neither Torin nor Julia had been close enough to disturbed it themselves. It was as if it had jumped off the bookcase on its own.

Julia crawled toward the book and opened it.

It was certainly not a professionally published book. It was more like cardstock paper cut in half and glued to the spine of a blank hardcover.

As she flipped through the pages, Torrin noticed the pages contained pictures of all kinds of flowers and plants followed by a short description and trivial facts.

It was homemade by her mother.

Some pages even had the actual specimen of flower pressed to the page for preservation. Julia's powers had revived the plants inside and managed to move the book from its place on the shelf.

"Mom spent a lot of her free time working on this when I was little. It's an encyclopedia of all the flowers she ever had in her store. She kept all her favorites pressed in here."

"I think now is the perfect time to appreciate it," said Torin confidently. "Look at what you did with your powers. You can bring life to a dead world with flowers, just like your mother said. Take it with you—use it as a guide. It might make you feel close to her when you need her."

Julia ran her thumb down the unopened pages of the book, contemplating his words. Her top teeth pinched her bottom lip as she thought.

A sound echoed through the silence of the city. Torin approached the window with quick strides. The low hum intensified then rocked the house as the source passed straight overhead.

"It's the military," he sighed. "They're heading for the landing platform near the cathedral. We need to meet up with Cole and the others."

When he looked back to the girl, she was in no hurry to pick herself off the floor and grab her bag, clutching the locket in her little hand.

"We'll be alright. I've seen Cole handle a dozen militia and a pack of monsters all at once. He's not going to let a handful of soldiers lay a finger on you. And neither will I."

Without a word, Julia rose to her feet and stuffed the handmade book in her back. Then she flung the two straps around her shoulders.

She took one last look at the charm and clasped it around her neck. "I'll hold you to that, Officer Davis."

Richard dragged his feet as he walked along the street that followed the shoreline. He felt lost, as if he no longer recognized the city he once called home five years ago. His mind seemed to have a faint memory of the layout, taking him down one street and up another without any clear conscience of where he was going.

For half a decade the only sight he knew were the grey bricks and mortar inside his cell. He could still hear the other inmates shouting garbled nonsense or whispering repetitiously out of insanity.

Being able to stretch his legs and take more than three steps in any direction was a blessing.

Somehow he still felt trapped, like he was caged between four walls that had only expanded to hold him within a few miles. He was free of his prison, but the freedom came with twenty miles of water between him and true liberty.

His options were limited and the only way he was going to survive was to depend on others to get him to the other side.

Even so, he would do anything to spit in the eye of freedom to see his wife, Catherine, once more. On death row, nothing else milled around his thoughts more than the memories of his beautiful wife, whom he had been happily married to for nearly thirty years. The only reason they hadn't reached that three decade milestone was because she had divorced him once the judge sentenced him to death by lethal injection.

Now that he was free, there was no home to return to or family to embrace. He had spent so many years longing to see her one more time before the day came for him to face the needle. Instead he was met with corpses and ruins.

The moment he stepped out beyond the rubble of the wall to his cell, his first concern was her safety rather than his own. He may have stopped to gawk at the Beast for a moment, then another wondering how sedated he had been by the depressants, but his mind still ended at the same conclusion.

He had lost his awareness of time before his aimless wandering brought him to the doorstep of his home. Or rather, what was left of it.

The duplex on the south side of town had been left in shambles. The half of the residence that had belonged to his neighbor—whose name he regretted to have forgotten during his incarceration—had been completely disassembled, leaving his own half of the home exposed without a pair. The front door had been separated from the hinges and laid flat across the wilted hedges before the kitchen window.

It didn't quite matter to him where the door ended up as he faintly remembered it had been left open by Catherine after he had caught her making her way out of the house. His sudden appearance left her frozen in disbelief, even as her heart still raced knowing the city was about to be indefinitely destroyed.

Five years later, she still had the same long blond hair he remembered and her face still held not a single scar or blemish. However, her eyes were aged significantly by puffy black circles beneath them and a deeper red at the corners. Clearly, she hadn't taken his absence very well.

It had seemed so much longer than five years since he had seen her. Every second he reveled in her presence made the time he had waited worthwhile.

Before he could express his honest relief, she dejected in a scornful voice that he had no right to come looking for her. He listened as she told him of the increased stress she had endured since he had been arrested, such as the debt from paying the bills and insurance without him and the hurtful words that had been said to her for being married to a convict.

To hear these words turned what was left of his heart to stone. The rest had been worn away by abusive prison guards and condescending prisoners long ago.

She then strutted past him and quickly entered her car, saying that the boat that was going to take her away from this place wasn't going to wait for him to repent to her.

Richard was left alone where he stood, watching the vehicle drive farther down the road toward the northern island.

Enraged, he shoved passed panicked residents of Ascension Parish without care of his conduct on his way to the marina, where he planned to commandeer the first boat he saw and leave the hollow shell of his old life behind. He didn't care what would come from the monster's rampage. The only thing that had mattered was Catherine. The rest could live and die how they pleased.

As he untied a sailboat from a short post on the dock, it began to sink in that the rest of his life was going to be short if not bleak. His drive to live and remain one step ahead of the law had already been exhausted without a satisfying end in sight. He knew the run would be taxing any new identity he made for himself would be fragile. Where was the harm in dying like the rest of the city when all he lived for had already left him?

That was when the blast had come. And all he could wonder was if Catherine had made it out alive.

Now, with no home or loved ones, all he could do was continue to walk forward, north toward the bridge that connected the two islands. If she did survive, he wouldn't find her car anywhere along the road to the harbor. And if he did find it…

He didn't want to imagine what he would see.

For every block he passed without finding the vehicle, his nerves calmed a bit more. Maybe she had escaped after all. Maybe there was still a chance he could find her to set things right.

As he neared the bridge, the roads became congested with cars and trucks still occupied by the deceased drivers, condemned to the irony of a traffic jam.

Richard scanned over the street for the car Catherine had taken. Once his search brought him as far as the bridge itself his nerves settled slightly. More and more corpses were sprawled out on the pavement and vehicles were now found to be empty. By this point, they had taken their chances at running to the harbor faster than the traffic could clear up.

At the halfway point, the convict's blood ran cold.

The causeway had collapsed from the middle, leaving a gap about thirty feet from one side to other. Bodies floated in the bay below along with debris left by the destroyed structure.

Teetering on the edge of the road was the dark green Lexus Richard hoped he wouldn't find.

With a dry mouth, he ran to the driver's side door and found the window completely smashed. On the other side of the titanium frame was what he could hardly recognize as his wife. All of her skin had been melted off, leaving a bloody red mass of blisters and muscle. None of her beauty remained.

With a sting coming to his sinuses, Richard pulled at the lever to open the door finding it locked. He reached in the window and pulled the inside handle, opening the door with a sorry squeak.

At his touch her body was even colder than he expected as whatever liquids had seeped from beneath her skin had cooled in the air and squished in his fingers. The sensation made him sick. Even his wildest imaginings couldn't comprehend how much she must have suffered in the instant the explosion enveloped her.

The burning in his nostrils spread to his eyes as he lifted her from the seat and cradled her on his knees. The chilled bodily fluids covered his arms, chest and cheek and stained his clothes.

Now he wished that he really was drugged on the Lorazepam the guards gave him periodically. He wished this was one of his episodic hallucinations and that he would wake up at any moment and return to his musty cell.

But no hallucination he ever had before lasted so long, appeared so clear and felt so real before. There was nothing to dismiss what he was experiencing as just a dream.

Never had he felt so lost and confused. What kind of deranged world had he been closed off from for five years?

None of his lonely daydreams ended with his family killed by a ten-story tall monster in a reality where superpowers were even remotely possible. He never thought that one day he'd be outside the wall turning into animals.

Nothing made sense now. That, or sense had never existed in the first place. Everything was different from five years ago.

At some point, it made sense to someone. There was a rhyme and a reason somewhere. He just couldn't see it. If it made sense to God, He was being exceptionally cruel. And if it wasn't dictated by God, where was He now when He was needed the most?

Richard stood after several minutes of mourning and approached the edge of the broken bridge with the body of his wife hanging limp in his arms. He stopped for a moment, and considered to take that one last step that would send him into the water below. Then he remembered the six bullet wounds in his side, and deduced that the jump would solve nothing.

With lead in his chest, he took his hands out from beneath the corpse and watched his beloved wife fall toward the bay. A few seconds later, she disappeared from view with an ugly splash.

Richard stood alone on the bridge, silently wondering how much more of life he could handle.

Here he was with people he never knew, who all had abilities a normal person should never command. If the law didn't have enough of a reason to want to kill him, now he was one of those unnatural mutants too.

The only compensation was that he had one familiar face left to look at. Torin was the one person from his old life that he could still cling to for normalcy.

However, the last time they met five years prior was a moment he quickly wanted to erase.

The future was more uncertain than ever. At least on death row he knew how his days were going to be spent and where his time would lead. Now he was wandering in a dense fog in uncharted territory, led only by the promise that once it cleared he wouldn't be staring at a military firing squad.

And he had no way of knowing what he would find when it did.

He didn't anticipate for the journey to last very long. Even if it did, his days were already numbered before it had ever began. He was already used to waiting for the man in black to knock on his door.

At the sound of helicopter blades approaching from the north he ducked behind the car, aware that his orange jumpsuit stuck out like a sore thumb against the blue water. He watched the military aircraft cross the bay and disappear into what was left of the city skyline.

Richard pushed away the guilt and uncertainty. They had no practical purpose in his survival. The best chance he had now was to trust Cole to keep his word.


	7. Chapter 7

_**A word from the author: Please be courteous when leaving reviews. Leave constructive criticism and avoid posting spoilers.**_

 _ **If you like the story, follow 'LegacyOfTheBeastFiction' on Facebook for updates and posts from the author!**_

 _ **~Zivalene**_

* * *

 **inFAMOUS: Legacy of the Beast  
Chapter 7**

 _"Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well."_

 _-Josh Billings_

* * *

Cole, Kuo and Rush hurried to the local police station where the helicopter had landed. They hid against the eastern wall where the soldiers wouldn't immediately notice them when they came through the exit.

Only seconds later came Torin and Julia around the west corner.

"Good to see you again, officer," greeted Rush.

"Likewise, Eddy."

"Actually, it's 'Rush' now."

Torin gave him a confused glance. "So I leave for half an hour and you already gave yourself a superhero name?"

"Yeah. Is there something wrong with that?"

"Only that it's childish and irrelevant."

"Hey, excuse me if I cope with trauma differently than you."

"Knock it off," Cole hushed them. "If you want to argue, do it in the chopper."

Hearing the sound of rushed footsteps, Torin instinctively turned to investigate and scowled as Richard came from the back alley to join them. His eyes immediately darted to the stains on his shirt.

"Do I want to know why you have blood all over you?"

"Don't we have more pressing matters to worry about than your curiosity?" shot back the other, not willing to divulge his private activities. He received an evil glare in return. Ignoring it, he looked to Cole and whispered, "What's the plan?"

"There's four of them surveying the inside and the pilot's still on the roof. We need to wait for them to come out so you guys can get up to the chopper without getting their attention."

"You haven't even seen them yet," Torin pointed out. "How could you know how many of them there are?"

"Everyone has a weak electric current in their bodies. I can sense it just like any other electrical equipment."

Rush grinned. "You can do that? Cool."

"And what are you going to be doing?" asked Richard.

"Once they're clear, Kuo will head up to the roof and take out the pilot." Cole directed his attention to her. "You've gotta be quick. If he calls for help, we could have more reinforcements coming than we can handle."

"Shouldn't be too difficult," she said with confidence.

"Once he's down, you four need to head up to the roof and wait for us to finish up with the others. Otherwise, they'll warn whoever's in charge to look for a blackhawk coming from New Marais."

"You make it sound so easy…" said Torin doubtfully.

"Just stay out of sight, let Kuo and I do all the work and we'll be home free."

Julia bit her lip and cradled her hands. "Cole? Can I tell you something?"

He glanced back. "Make it quick."

"My dad wasn't in New Marais when the explosion came. He was injured a few days ago when he was called from Iraq to fight the monster. I haven't heard from him since."

He turned further. "Your father's in the military?"

"Yeah. I don't know if he's dead or not, but if he's alive he might be one of these soldiers." She squeezed her fingers together. "...You're not going to kill them, are you?"

"I'm not hoping to," he replied, not mentioning that he had intended on doing so before she presented him with this new information. "What's he look like?"

Julia took off her locket and opened the two halves, showing him the photo of her mother and father. Cole studied it closely, noting his red hair, emerald eyes and the shape of his face. He then nodded, prompting her to place it back onto her neck.

"I'll keep an eye out for him."

The front door to the entrance of the building flew open and out came the four soldiers Cole had predicted. Clad in body armor with M-16 rifles at the ready, they scanned up and down the street for any signs of human life, unaware that they were being watched.

Cole scanned their faces, looking for any resemblance to Julia's father. He was morbidly relieved that he could not recognize any of them.

They quickly moved up the street and into a residential area out of sight.

Cole waited for a moment to see if one of them was going to backtrack. Then he nodded to Kuo.

She returned the gesture and took a few steps away from the building. She then vanished in a flurry of snow.

Rush smiled with a pleased sound. The other three, however, were more horrified than impressed.

Cole kept watch as they waited, hearing doors being broken in and intelligible shouts coming from the soldiers. As he suspected, they were checking for survivors.

A moment later, Kuo reappeared in a burst of cold air. "Okay, the roof's clear."

"What did you do to him?" asked Torin hesitantly.

"Only what I had to," she replied with a cold tone.

Cole shivered at her reply. She had given him the same answer when he had asked about Zeke. In his mind, it could have meant anything at all. But like his friend, these men stood between him and his goal. He was prepared to do what he needed to; even if that meant killing them to survive.

He took one more look around the corner then glanced to the new Conduits. "Go, hurry."

They compiled, running as carefully as they could into the building with Torin at the lead to guide them to the roof.

Once they were out of sight and out of danger, Cole and Kuo made their way to the roof of what used to be a militia recruitment office just across the street—Kuo flying in a stream of ice crystals and Cole using a tether of electricity to pull himself effortlessly to the the top.

They followed the soldiers to a small shop down the street. Kuo kept her eyes to the road as she asked, "How should we do this? Taking them all out at once might be tricky."

"Remember how we used to combine our powers?"

She smiled. "Yes, I do."

"I'll knock out their communications just in case. It'll be quick and painless."

Inside, the soldiers could be heard speaking to each other. While not entirely easy to understand, their voices traveled through the silence and onto the streets

"This is a waste of time. We're not finding anything except leftover barbecue."

"We have our orders, Tarlton."

"I know that. But they can't honestly be expecting us to search every building."

"No, they're not. If you were paying attention you'd know we can call for the others once we're sure it's safe."

"Bullshit, Kaney. That thing was the size of the statue of liberty! It's not here anymore, it moved on to nuke another city while we're here to pull out corpses. We should be out there hunting it down."

"If that's how you want it, the chopper's just down the street. Might as well leave your rifle here; you won't need it when you're discharged."

The four men came through the door. Cole took a breath and jumped, releasing a wave of electromagnetic energy at the grouped soldiers.

They were startled by a sudden jolt of electricity paralyzing them momentarily. Cole hit the pavement before them, undaunted by their higher numbers.

"Contact!" Yelled one as his muscles jittered while raising his automatic rifle to his shoulder. Unbeknownst to him, no one was able to hear him on the other side of the radio.

The air exploded with gunfire. Cole raised a concentrated magnetic field to absorb the oncoming bullets, leaving him completely unharmed and absorbing the kinetic energy to use later.

An intense chill fell upon the marines. Two of them looked back in concern, finding Kuo releasing a cloud of freezing mist. They swiveled around to redirect their fire at her.

Concerned for her safety, Cole lowered his shield to shoot a bolt into the cold plume. In an instant, the soldiers were encapsulated in ice and rendered totally immobile.

He winced in pain. Several bullets had struck him after leaving himself vulnerable. The injuries themselves were nothing more than a few stray scratches and cuts.

"Are you okay?" Kuo called to him.

"Yeah," he replied. "Start up the copter so we can get out of here."

His partner flew ahead while he remained behind. He glanced at the group of soldiers, whose frozen eyes stared back at him. He remembered hearing the one man stress how much he wanted to find and kill the Beast. Little did he know he didn't need to look too far.

This was only first of many military attacks he anticipated on the journey. Taking on only four of them at a time was simple, but one day he'd have an entire army to face. When that time came, he'd need more than just his electric powers to protect himself.

One day he'd have to release the Beast inside. He prayed that he would have control by then.

He turned and ran back around the corner after Kuo, shooting another tether from his hand to lift himself up to the helipad.

Against the side of the rooftop access drooped the helicopter pilot, unconscious and limp. The sleeves of his uniform and pants were pinned to the sheetrock by several sharp icicles. At least Kuo had been honest in that she didn't go to extremes to get him out of their way.

The helicopter's engine screeched to life and the pair of rotors slowly began to spin. Cole climbed inside and closed the door behind him, finding Kuo already seated in the pilot's chair.

Torin fastened Julia into one of the seats beside Rush and Richard before joining Kuo in the adjacent copilot spot.

Lights flashed and gauges whirled in the cockpit. Kuo exhaled unsteadily.

"You don't seem very comfortable, miss Kuo," commented Torin.

"No, I'm fine. It's just...been a while, that's all."

"You'll do fine, Kuo," encouraged Cole. "You just gotta get us past twenty miles of water. If everything goes well, we'll see how far we can take this thing."

"Yeah...like riding a bike." She tapped her fingers on the flight stick nervously. "Just try to keep your hands off the electrical equipment. Otherwise we might have a very short trip."

Kuo flipped a couple switches and the twin engines screamed even louder. The roar of the rotors echoed dully underneath the sound.

Julia clutched at the bottom of her blouse. Rush noticed this and asked, "Have you ever flown before?"

She shook her head "I might feel better if we had a real pilot."

"Nah, it'll be cool. Flying's fun. Once we get in the air, it won't even feel like we're moving."

A moment later, the blackhawk gained lift and rose into the air. Once it hovered high enough to clear the remaining buildings Kuo rotated the vehicle to point north then tilted the stick forward, sending them on their way.

The Conduits watched as the city shrunk beneath them. From above, they could truly see the extent of the damage. Even Bellevue, destroyed by the flood four years prior, had crumbled away into absolute ruins.

There was silence as they left New Marais' airspace. They took the time to think back on their homes and families. Their old lives were officially behind them.

"So how fast can this thing go?" asked Rush eagerly, ending the silence.

"Cruising speed is about 150," answered Kuo. "Shouldn't take more than ten minutes to get to Mandeville."

"Mandeville, huh?" mused Rush. "That wouldn't be a bad place to settle down. It's quiet, family oriented, got a nice shoreline with some of the best seafood. Doesn't have all the real fun stuff like New Marais but it makes up for it with charm. What do you think, Cole?"

Cole glanced at him, seeing his friendly smirk. "Sounds a little too small for my tastes."

"Well, you're not wrong," said Torin, turning in his seat. "Mandeville's the kind of town where everyone knows each other. Strangers stick out like a sore thumb, especially the ones that don't know the town like the back of their hand."

"Doesn't mean they won't be hospitable to us city-folk," replied Rush.

"What's this 'we' and 'us' crap?" grumbled Richard. "When was the vote about sticking together?"

The officer frowned. "Well, of course you'd disagree, Richard. You'll probably take off the second we touch down."

"That's right. And the first thing to go will be this suit."

"And I'll make sure the proper authorities know there's an escaped convict on the loose and that he's highly dangerous."

"Sure, go ahead," grinned the other with irritation. "They'll reward you with a magnum to the head instead of money. Don't forget that you're just as much a wanted terrorist as I am. A uniform and a badge won't change that."

"Don't say it like that," said Julia slumping in her seat. "There's a place for us somewhere...there's just gotta be."

"Don't worry, we'll find a place to stay," comforted Rush leaning down to meet her eyes. "Cole's already got some ideas in mind for us to crash, right? I'll show you the map he made."

Cole turned to him and hesitated.

"Come on, let me see it."

The electric man sighed and unzipped his backpack. Kuo turned in her seat and and frowned as he handed the folded paper to Rush.

The blonde squinted at the map after opening it. "Man, you've got plans 'A' through 'Z' on this thing."

Kuo stifled a laugh.

Richard leaned in and glanced at it. "What's with all the crosses?"

"Those are all the places the Beast hit," answered Rush simply.

"The entire east coast?"

"A lot's happened while you were behind bars."

"And all the other points...? Jackson... Nashville... Louisville. They're all capitals. Why are you interested in those places?"

Cole's eyes shot to the door trying to come up with an excuse. "Capitals are typically one of the more populated places in a state. We could blend into any one of those cities easily."

Richard cocked his mouth. "Sounds like backwards logic to me. Fugitives usually want to head away from large cities. More police on patrol."

"The only thing that make us stand out are our powers. Major cities have all kinds of freaks, no one would take a second look at someone new."

"Do what you want," said Richard. "I'll be heading somewhere more remote."

Torrin scoffed and turned his eyes back to the front. His face paled. "Oh, no..."

"I should have known" Kuo groaned as she leaned forward.

Cole took the map back from Rush, who complained in protest, and approached the cockpit. Looking through the windshield he was able to spot a ship sitting near the coast of Mandeville.

"It's an aircraft carrier," she said with dread. "Those anti-air cannons will rip through us like paper. I'll have to keep clear."

"No," retorted Cole. "If you change course they might think something's up. Keep heading for the shoreline."

"Can you even hear yourself?" Torin sent him a heated stare. "If she listens to you, we're going to get ourselves killed."

There came a garbled sound from Kuo's side of the chopper. She glanced up to find a headset hanging from the emergency door. She brought it to her ear then slumped in her seat.

"They're saying if we don't identify ourselves or turn around, they'll open fire."

Julia pressed herself into the seat.

"How paranoid are these guys?" questioned Rush.

Cole spun around. "Don't panic," he said calmly. "I can handle anything they throw at us, no problem."

Torin glared at him. "What can you possibly do against artillery of that caliber?"

"Second warning, Cole," reported Kuo. "I've got to do something."

"You don't know what all I can do," shot back Cole. "I can make a barrier around the chopper, we'll be fine."

"Having superpowers doesn't make you infallible. You shouldn't underestimate the military."

"Guys…" moaned Rush at length.

"No one asked for your opinion," barked Cole in annoyance.

"Would you shut up and look," pointed Richard to the front.

Cole followed his signal and faced forward. With the distance to the shoreline closing, there was a clear view of the town head. Already it had looked like the aftermath of fallout lacking color and life.

The only visible activity within the city was the sporadic motions of military hummers and personnel moving about the streets.

"They're swarming the town. I'm flying into an ambush, Cole," fretted Kuo.

"They were waiting for John to double back," muttered Cole.

"As if we didn't have enough problems…" growled Torin. "Turn this thing around _now_ , Kuo, before it's too late!"

A third and final warning came through the speakers. Kuo clenched the stick apprehensively under stress and looked back to Cole. He said nothing as she stared at him, searching for an answer. She was in control, and it was up to her to make the choice.

A second later, she righted herself in her seat and took a deep breath through the nose. She pitched the aircraft even steeper and increased their speed.

Torin clawed the side of his chair in desperation.

Cole whirled around and took hold of the latch to the left door.

"What are you doing?" questioned Rush with a hint of fear in his voice.

"Be ready to jump when this goes wrong," he said firmly.

"Jump!?"

"We're Conduits. There's no consequence to falling." He looked back to Kuo and called, "Just head straight, no matter what."

Torin braced himself to the upholstery. "...Not like we had much to look forward to, anyway."


	8. Chapter 8

_**A word from the author: Please be courteous when leaving reviews. Leave constructive criticism and avoid posting spoilers.**_

 _ **If you like the story, follow 'LegacyOfTheBeastFiction' on Facebook for updates and posts from the author!**_

 _ **~Zivalene**_

* * *

 **inFAMOUS: Legacy of the Beast  
Chapter 8**

 _"How others treat me is their path; how I react is mine."  
~Wayne Dyer  
_

* * *

A strong gust of wind burst into the cabin as Cole slid the door open. He tightly latched onto the handle looking down into the bay, knowing death for him was only a slip of the foot away.

Three hundred feet below them, the aircraft carrier opened fire, releasing a hailstorm of 20 mm rounds at the blackhawk.

With his one free hand Cole summoned an electrostatic barrier toward the rear of the helicopter, disintegrating any bullets that collided with it. Whatever stray shots that bypassed his shield's radius pounded the outer shell like hail.

The three Conduits in the back watched him in awe. Certainly, they never thought they'd be on the business end of a battleship.

After a long moment of good fortune, Cole spotted something through the blue field rushing straight at the chopper. Seeing the tail of smoke, he recognized it as a guided rocket.

He lowered the shield to use his one hand to release a wave of electromagnetism. Coming within only a few feet of the copter, the projectile changed course like a rubber ball thrown against a wall and plummeted to the bay.

The sensation of a knife digging into his shoulder forced him to duck back into the cabin. Without thought, he covered the wound with his hand, finding warm blood sticking to his fingers.

The storm of bullets violently pelted the aircraft without diligent protection. Cole heard one shoot past his ear and end with a spark in the cockpit.

Torin nearly jumped out of his seat.

Heart pounding and shoulder throbbing, Cole pivoted back into the line of fire and raised the barrier again.

Rush glanced down at Julia, who looked like she was about to burst into tears. He took her hand and held it tight, trying to give her a few words of consolation. His voice was drowned out by the chaos.

An elbow jabbed him in the kidney. He whirled around to see Richard tensing and thrashing as thick brown hair sprouted from his skin. His mouth and nose began to jut from his skull, forming into a muzzle.

The blonde took him by the shoulder and shook him hard, trying to yell above the wind. When his efforts to calm him failed, he threw a punch as hard as he could to the man's face.

The wild man took a startled breath and quickly returned to his normal human appearance. He found Rush's blue eyes as his vision cleared and thankfully inclined his head.

Cole deflected a salvo of two missiles, sending them tumbling to the water.

The chopper tilted to the left as a trail of black smoke zoomed by them. Unprepared for the shift, Cole's feet slipped from the side of the helicopter. Had he not been desperately hanging onto the door, he would have been ejected from the vehicle.

Without hesitation, Rush unfastened his harness and flew to his aid, reaching to take his free hand while gripping the handle. Against the wind, Cole struggled to swing his arm forward and grip his hand with all his life.

Rush fought to pull him in without getting sucked outside himself.

Torin averted Kuo's attention to their peril. She rocked the helicopter to the right, sending the two falling back inside to the opposite door.

Trembling and stomach in his chest, Cole climbed to his feet and returned to the perilous fire fight. Before he could react, a rocket collided with the tail rotor, smashing it into pieces of metal shrapnel. He fell face first into an open seat as the copter pitched backwards.

Alarms blared and red lights flashed urgently in the cockpit. Kuo worked the knobs and switches at a blistering pace, then took the cyclic stick with both hands and struggled to keep the helicopter stable.

Cole shot his eyes to the outside, see the shoreline coming up fast.

He stood and moved quickly to unbuckle Julia from her spot. "Time to go," he yelled above the ruckus. The girl wrapped her arms around his neck as he pressed her to his chest.

Rush and Richard stood and held onto their seats as the chopper rocked and twisted like a boat caught in a hurricane. Torin hopped the central column and joined them, steadying himself by the arm of a chair.

By now, Kuo had lost all control of the blackhawk. It was going down and no amount of effort on her part would ease their descent. She glanced back and nodded to her partner before jettisoning the emergency pilot exit and vanishing in a puff of snow.

Cole gave a sure nod to the remaining Conduits and clutched Julia's back tight. Rush swallowed nervously in response.

Richard on the other hand didn't leave a second to waste and ran for the edge, vanishing from sight.

With a rock in his gut, Torin followed suit. Then Rush clumsily after him.

Cole took the jump, holding firmly onto Julia while she clamped onto him so tight he could hardly breathe.

In a plume of grey and indigo, Rush instantaneously disappeared and reappeared on the grass of the shoreline just before Kuo materialized beside him.

During the fall, Richard's body shrunk as feathers grew from the follicles of his skin.

A moment later, Torin and Cole rushed past him, swiftly coming to the end of the dive. The officer hit the ground hard, falling to his hands and knees and dumbstruck to be unharmed.

Cole used his free hand to loose a jet of static electricity, slowing his descent to a comfortable touchdown. Julia exhaled loudly as she pried her hands away from his neck and settled on her feet.

Behind them the helicopter collided with the seawall, exploding into a hot inferno and falling into the bay.

The squawk of a seagull sounded above them before it hurriedly flew into the town.

"Richard!" shouted Torin.

"Never mind him," Kuo said breathlessly. "We've got more trouble on the way."

From the west came two hummers fitted with mounted turrets. Cole ordered the Conduits to run as the soldier on top opened fire.

Bullets flew past him as he released a single high velocity ball of concentrated lightning. Coming in contact with the hood of the vehicle, it burst into a flaming wreck.

The surviving marines piled out, giving Cole incentive to catch up with the others.

Running through a residential area thick with trees and groves, bullets whooshed through the air towards them. Rush cried out in pain as he tumbled to the pavement taking a rifle round in his calf.

Torin doubled back to come to his aid.

Cole stood just behind them and raised his barrier once more, absorbing any shots that vied to take advantage of their hesitation.

Kuo drew a large amount of her power to release an intense wave of frost, instantly stopping the soldiers in their tracks by trapping them in casts of ice.

"Come on, Eddy. You've gotta keep going." Torin took his comrade's arm and wrapped it around his neck. Rush groaned with every step on his injured leg.

Another truck barrelled toward them from the east at a four way intersection. Kuo raised a column of ice beneath it, lifting its tires from the road and flipping it onto its top like a helpless tortoise.

Before the persistent soldiers could crawl out of the wreck, Cole tossed an unstable ball of electricity at the truck, exploding seconds later and resulting in another fire.

They continued on, finding the roads less concealed by vegetation and lined with more businesses than homes. More armored trucks came toward them from the north and south. Cole and Kuo faced either side of the street, preparing to defend the Conduits.

"Cole, this isn't working. We need to find somewhere to hide," said Kuo.

His eyes darted around, finding a bicycle rental shop that doubled as a cafe on the second floor.

"In there. Block off their view."

Using both hands, Cole and Kuo formed walls of ice obstructing the entire road. Tires squealed on the other side, signalling that their pursuers had either halted or redirected their path.

Torin stared in shock, seeing Cole command a form of matter other than his iconic electricity.

Kuo urged them inside, going through the shattered glass door and ducking behind the service counter.

Cole glanced around at the mangled bikes and shattered helmets, giving a disgruntled sigh. "Well, this brings back memories…"

"What are we going to do now?" Torin panted, "We can't stay here, they'll find us."

The sounds of engines and shouting drew closer. Kuo peeked above the counter then sunk back down.

She turned to Cole, a tuft of cobalt hair flopping in her face. "This is pointless. Trigger a blast so we can be done with this."

He glared at her. "There aren't any potential Conduits here, it would just be a slaughter."

"We don't have time to discuss morals," she hissed. "You want to protect these people? _Protect_ them."

Torin felt a shiver go down his spine. "Blast? What is she talking about?"

Frowning, Cole looked to him and sighed. With a broken conscience, he surrendered to the urgency of their situation.

He lowered his head and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath through the nose and holding onto it for a moment, then exhaled. All of the pent up power that had been suffocating him began to pool into his hands, manifesting as a fierce crimson light.

His breaths continued to come steadily, as if he was lost in a deep meditation. The power within him grew into a force he had never wielded before. His fists closed trying to keep the energy from slipping through his fingers too soon.

Julia watched on with a quivering lip.

Torin's heart pounded as flames begin to swirl and twist around him. The corners of his eyes seemed to bleed fire that intensified when his gaze burrowed into the wall.

The officer's mind detached from the moment, sending him back to the siege at New Marais. He had seen those eyes before.

"No! Stop!" He lunged forward in desperation.

He drew his hand back and shouted in agony, burned by the heat of the flames. His fingers twitched uncontrollably from the searing pain.

His voice attracted the soldiers in the area, leading them to the shop. They swarmed in, shouting and waving their guns around the room.

In that instant, Cole let go of all the power he had gathered. A light brighter than the sun erupted from his hands and filled the entire room. The building was ripped to shreds, blowing apart from the inside into thousands of glass shards and wooden splinters.

Bloodcurdling screams sounded from behind as the soldiers were all vaporized into dust.

In his hurry to prepare the attack, Cole had not considered that the blast would affect his companions as well. They were violently thrown from their crouched positions and into the blinding red curtain.

When the light faded, all was silent. Even the wind hardly made a sound.

The Conduits blinked as their eyes readjusted to their surroundings, peering past the black spots that floated into view. They moaned as they peeled themselves off the ground, sore and bearing minor bruises from the tumble.

Torin throat numbed, seeing every building and vehicle in town completely gone and reduced to rubble.

He and the other Conduits found themselves scattered about the edge of the crater that had been left by the blast. Alone, at the epicenter of the deep scar, was the man who had caused it.

Cole groaned wearily and slumped forward, clasping his mid-section. His right arm wobbled trying to hold himself up. The fire he had conjured had dissipated along with every lifeform in the city.

Kuo climbed the slope to reach him, crouching down and taking his shoulders gently. "How do you feel now?"

In all honesty, he felt as if he had traded one pain for another. He no longer felt like his insides were being flattened under a steamroller, but he now felt exhausted with a dull pain radiating throughout his body.

He also felt an eerie sense of being hollow. Only a few seconds ago he could sense all the lives around him, military and Conduits alike. In a flash it had been swept away, leaving him empty with only the small satisfaction of feeling the presence of those around him.

He lifted his gaze only enough to find her eyes. "Don't ever ask me to do that again."

Her lips unbuckled from disappointment.

Despite Cole's obvious discomfort in the deed, all Torin could see was red. The flashes of New Marais lingered in his brain seeing the melted corpses of dedicated soldiers who only wanted to defend their country. Julia's disturbed sobs almost deafened him.

There came an enraged growl from the officer. Cole toppled to his side, taking the hit of a steel toed shoe to his ribs.

"Monster," he roared, pressing Cole's throat to the ground with one hand and delivering fierce punches to his face.

"Torin!" Kuo took hold of his fist. The officer slipped it free and struck her in the face with his elbow, causing her to backpedal with her fingers to her nose.

"Hey!" Rush rocked to his knees and gave a quick teleport, grabbing Torin's waist as he reappeared and yanked him off of Cole, tumbling into the crater together. At the bottom, Rush pinned the enraged cop's wrists down. "What's gotten into you?"

Torin fought against his weight, finding him unexpectedly stronger than he appeared. He jutted his knee forward, getting Rush in the sensitives and loosening his grip. He pried free and shoved him away before rising back to his feet.

He craned his head upwards, seeing Kuo pull Cole to his feet with a blue substance staining her upper lip. "I knew there was something wrong with you from the start. You're the Beast!"

"Do I look like a hundred foot tall monster to you?" retorted Cole.

Kuo looked to him questionably.

"I don't need to see it to believe it," spat Torin. "You're just like Richard; an animal in a human's body. So you were right, I don't know what all you can do. I should have shot you in the skull when I had the chance."

"Think about it; the Beast was immune to conventional weapons, I bleed just like anyone else."

The officer spread his arms. "Then what's your excuse for this? Only the Beast could have done this."

"That's true," Cole nodded. "Only the Beast could have done this."

Torin pressed his lips together and furrowed his brows.

"That's why he gave me the power. He was done killing people and took his own life to get out. He trusted me with carrying on for him, to save what little bit of humanity I could from the Plague."

The officer's fists eased up slightly.

"So yeah, if you want to hear me say it, I can nuke cities. I can make Conduits. But I am not that giant thing you call 'the Beast'. I'm just his legacy."

Torin remained silent, taking in Cole's words, his voice, his expressions. Not once did his voice quivered uneasily trying to recite a lie, and his eyes had stayed focused on his without once darting away to fabricate a truth.

But it didn't make him forgive him any less for killing all those soldiers.

Rush took a pained step off his injured leg. "That's why you wanted the map. You weren't trying decide on a place to lay low; you were making a hit list. Why didn't you just tell us that?"

"Because I promised to get you guys out of New Marais safely. Once we got here, what you did with your lives from this point on was your decision. If you knew, odds are you would have taken your chances getting shot by the military than trust me to get you this far."

Rush paused to think on his words. Then he looked Cole straight in the eye and said, "If it's my choice what I do with my life, I want to spend it saving people. I'm going with you."

"No, Eddy," Kuo declined quickly. "The military will be after us. Play it safe and find a new place to live."

Cole glanced at her heatedly. He knew she wasn't really concerned about Rush's safety. All she really wanted was to have less baggage to slow them down.

"I don't care," he replied firmly. "Doing the right thing isn't always the easy anyway. I want to help the people like me—Conduits. And you guys could teach me how to use my powers. Having someone who can teleport will make your lives easier."

Kuo squeezed Cole's arm, silently begging him to convince Rush otherwise.

But he ignored her and nodded. "We'd be happy to have you, Rush."

"Not me," Torin dejected. "I don't care what you say you are, Cole. I don't want any part in mass murder. And Julia's coming with me."

"Shouldn't that be her decision?" asked Rush.

"This isn't something a girl her age gets to pick and choose. What makes you think a renegade life without the guarantee of food, water and shelter is a life fit for a child?"

The younger man's shoulders drooped, not saying a word.

"She's already lost her mother. She's seen enough death to last the rest of her life." Torin slowly turned away. "Let's go, Julia."

"...No," came her quiet voice.

Her response stopped the officer in his tracks. He twisted back, looking her in the eye like a stern parent. "This isn't a discussion. You're coming with me. Now."

"No!" She stomped her foot. "You're not my dad. My dad is either dead or he's out there somewhere hunting Conduits. If I go with them, there's still a chance I could find him. I can't do that hiding in some no-name town."

Torin was taken aback by her tone and aggressive attitude.

Kuo leaned toward her. "He's right, Julia. It's too dangerous to take you with us. Stay with Torin, he'll take good care of you."

Julia folded her arms inward and took a step back, expressing that she absolutely did not want to oblige.

Looking to Cole with her jade eyes, she begged, "Please, Cole…. I _have_ to know if my dad's okay."

Cole sighed at length. He knew that letting her stay with Torin was best, but helping her find her father was right. Any one of them would be happy to see their family one more time. Julia was the only one with a remote chance of being with her father again.

At her age, she rightfully belonged with him.

Finally he said, "If you want to come, I won't stop you."

Kuo directed a scowl at him once more.

"I do," Julia nodded. "But you have to promise not to kill anymore soldiers."

The electric man paused again.

"Julia… I can't promise that. They would kill any of us without a second thought. We have to defend ourselves. That's not counting how many could get caught in a blast."

Kuo appeared to be lifted by his refusal.

Julia deflated and hung her head.

Cole felt a pang of guilt in his heart. He saw Kuo's subtle joy and remembered how irritated he was when he agreed to her terms.

Then again, who was she to make the rules? He was the key player on the team. She could give him suggestions all she wanted, but she did not have the end-all-be-all ruling. It was his crusade, not hers.

"But, I guess we can try to minimize military casualties," he said thoughtfully.

Julia's gaze shot back to him with a curious gleam on her face.

"No," Kuo stood between him and the girl. "Cole, I can't let you do this."

"Do what?" Cole stared her down, expecting her to disagree. "Let these people choose how they want their lives to go after we took everything from them? I'm not forcing them to stay or go."

"This isn't what we agreed on."

"I know. I just found the middle ground."

Kuo's icy fingers balled into a fist. Cole saw the tension and said nothing more. He knew her to be a control freak, just like every other government type he had met.

But what she had yet to understand was that she couldn't control him; she never had and never will. There was no threat she could make that would be beneficial to either of them.

Rush looked to Torin. "You sure you don't want to come with us? You'd be breaking up the team if you did."

He tried to give a friendly smile by the end, only to be met with a soulless glare.

"Didn't you hear them? There was never a 'team' to begin with. I'm saving them the trouble of leaving me to the wolves."

Cole turned back to him. "If you ever change your mind, you're always welcome with us."

"Thanks," he said, lacking substantial gratitude. "But I don't think you'll be seeing me again anytime soon."

"In that case..." Rush held out his hand. "Good luck, Torin."

The other didn't return the gesture. "Don't turn your back on them, Eddy. Not everyone is as good as they say they are."

Rush lowered his hand and gave him a stern frown. "Take care, officer."

Torin said nothing more and turned away for the last time.

Rush watched him leave and disappear from sight, wishing him good fortune in his thoughts.

Now, as the last of the New Marais Conduits to remain, he brought his attention back to Cole and Kuo. "What about Richard?"

"His mind was made up a long time ago," answered Cole.

"Then…what's our first order of business, Boss?"

"We need to find a working truck," replied Cole. "The Plague's already got a head start on us. We can make it to Jackson in a few hours if we hurry."

"No rest for the wicked, huh?"

"We've got a job to do. Millions of people are infected, and all of them will die in weeks without us."

"Then what are we standing around here for?" Rush winced as he took a few hazardous steps. "We've got a world to save."


	9. Chapter 9

_**A word from the author: Please be courteous when leaving reviews. Leave constructive criticism and avoid posting spoilers.**_

 _ **If you like the story, follow 'LegacyOfTheBeastFiction' on Facebook for updates and posts from the author!**_

 _ **~Zivalene**_

* * *

 **inFAMOUS: Legacy of the Beast  
Chapter 9**

 _"The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best."  
-Epictetus_

* * *

"Here's one," said Kuo as the four Conduits came upon a gray Tacoma. "Inconspicuous color—should draw less attention. And it only has a few dents and scratches."

For the better part of an hour, they had searched the outskirts of the town for a working vehicle where the impact of the blast was less severe. Most had blown out tires or already caught on fire. Others were damaged beyond repair whether from the explosion itself or a chaotic reaction between the fire and gasoline.

The former agent cupped her hands around her eyes to peer inside of the window. "We're in luck. The keys are still in the ignition."

She pulled open the driver side door. An unbuckled cadaver slunk dead onto the pavement at her feet.

Julia gave a startled yelp.

Rush spun her around by her shoulders and said, "Let's wait for Kuo to finish her work, huh?" Then he took her across the street to an open park, leaving Cole and Kuo to prepare the truck in peace.

Cole dragged the body into a nearby parking lot to get it out of their way and out of Julia's sight.

Kuo leaned forward into the cab and turned the key. The truck didn't even sputter. She cursed and twisted it twice more in aggravation before giving up.

Cole returned as she propped up the hood and peered around the engine block. "Think it's the battery?"

"For our sakes, it had better be…."

"I'll give it a shot," said Cole. "Go try to start it up."

"Just be gentle, okay? We may not find another one for two hundred miles."

"Try to have a little more faith in me. I charged batteries in the Quarantine in exchange for food."

Kuo returned to the driver's seat and waited. Cole brought a charge to his hands and conducted a current into each of the two metal nodes on the car's battery.

The fact that nothing exploded outright was a good sign.

At the first attempt to turn the engine over, nothing happened. Cole kept the current coming for another minute before Kuo tried again. This time the truck came to life.

Kuo smiled and revved the pedal a couple times. "That did it. We're good to go."

After closing the hood, he leaned into the window and asked, "How's everything else look?"

"Well, it has about three-quarters of a tank of gas left. We should be fine for a while."

The two glanced over to see Rush and Julia sitting on the grass in the park looking through her mother's handmade flower encyclopedia. The young man pointed to the pages with a smile and spoke softly as if he were talking to his niece.

Julia did not appear to be as jovial.

"Why did you lie to them?" Kuo asked him in a whisper.

"Knowing wouldn't help them," he answered.

"No," she dejected. "If they knew, it wouldn't help _you_. You're afraid they wouldn't come with us."

"So what if I am," said Cole with a tinge of annoyance. "If they're with us, I can protect them. The military will always be one step behind us, and If we left every Conduit we saved none of them would survive. How much time would we be wasting then?"

"About as much time as it would take to find and care for them all. It's all going to add up. How many do you think are going to die because you dragged your feet working charity cases?"

"I know you don't like them staying, Kuo. But this is the only way we can be sure anyone makes it through this."

"Then you know you can never transform."

"I never want to," he said earnestly. "If it were up to me, I wouldn't have these powers. But since I'm stuck with them, it's my responsibility to use them for the best of all of us. That includes not giving the government a giant target to follow."

She looked at him for a minute and actually began to smile.

"Y'know...there are a lot of people who would abuse that kind of powers. You are, without question, the most powerful Conduit on Earth... but you don't let that extinguish your humanity. And I respect that about you, Cole."

He didn't return the smile, but he did nod in compliance of her compliment. "You've got a good head on your shoulders too, Kuo."

' _...Though sometimes I wonder if you've got it on straight.'_

"Hey, Boss," Rush called from across the street. "Come check this out!"

Cole turned to see Rush and Julia standing in an expanse of blue flowers that nearly covered the entire park. More importantly, he saw Julia happier than she had ever been since he had met her.

"Julia," smiled Cole as he and Kuo made their way toward them. "You did this?"

"I'm just as surprised as you are," she answered with a short laugh.

Kuo folded her arms. "Well, it's leaps and bounds better than the roots and vines trying to suffocate people."

"She had the idea to make a kind of memorial for the soldiers," Rush explained. "Flowers seemed like a practical choice."

Cole's eyes drifted towards the book on the ground, seeing the same flower pressed to the page as the ones smothering the park.

Rush saw his interest. "It could use a bit more color, huh?" he said to Julia.

She agreed then flipped through the pages, finding more diverse colors and petal shapes to add to the mosaic. Each time she touched a new flower in the book, it multiplied into the world around her without the need of seeds, water or even time to grow. Eventually, it was the most colorful patch of land within a hundred miles.

"Not half bad," nodded Rush. "It's just missing one thing…."

He moved down the street to a nearby white picket fence, pulling on each board looking for one that would easily separate from the base.

Julia saw the smile on Cole's face in response and reciprocated it. Finally, she had proof that she was capable of more than just violence and ravenous overgrowth. She had made the world just a little bit better for a moment, and made someone else happy because of it.

For Cole, he was just happy to see one of his own Conduits growing with their powers.

Julia was truly gifted with having such a blissful power. In a world where death and despair would come to reign, she was one of the few who could keep the light shining. She could be the remedy for the hard times ahead.

"This is all very touching," Kuo tapped her finger on her bicep, "but the engine is running. We have places to be."

Cole rolled his eyes.

"Chill out, Kuo," said Rush, returning with two boards ripped from the fence. "And yes, I meant that as a joke."

He moved to the middle of the patch of land and shoved one piece of wood into the ground, putting the weight of his foot onto it to dig it in deeper. On the back he pounded the second board into a nail perpendicular to the other, making a quick ceremonial cross.

"It's only the respectful thing to do," he looked back to her. "One day people might find this and think 'those evil Conduit guys weren't so bad afterall'."

"That's a stretch," Kuo muttered.

"We'll just have to wait and see," said Cole conservatively.

There came a rumble of thunder from the south. Cole turned to see a thick black cloud crossing the bay from New Marais. A curtain of grey covered the horizon, signalling the coming of rain.

He motioned toward the truck. "We should get going. Julia, you're riding with Kuo."

Julia gathered her book and backpack and followed with a new skip in her step.

Cole removed the map from his bag and handed it to Kuo. "Stay off the highway. It'll take a little longer but we don't need half the state recognizing me."

"Don't worry about it. Just enjoy the ride."

Julia climbed into the passenger seat and buckled herself into the seat belt, placing her backpack at her feet.

Cole hopped into the bed of the truck and took a spot in the corner just behind where Kuo sat.

In a cloud of greyish purple, Rush appeared opposite to him by the tailgate. "Room for one more?"

"Be my guest," said Cole without care where the other preferred to ride.

The vehicle coached through the rotted streets, making its way toward the north. Each tiny pothole rocked the suspension with a wearying creak.

A few moments passed before the road smoothed out and the ride had become comfortable if not simply bearable.

Rush's eyes found Cole's backpack and he frowned curiously. "I just noticed you don't have that metal thing you carry around in your bag."

"You mean my Amp?"

"That's what you call it? Did you lose it or something?"

"No. I left it in New Marais where Ignatius' statue used to be. Figured I wouldn't need it anymore."

"Like a memorial on the battlefield," Rush assessed accurately. "Where did you get it?"

Cole gave him a tired stare for a moment before answering, "An old friend of mine made it for me."

"Wow. They must have put in a lot of hard work to make something like that. It worked with your powers, didn't it? It was like a real superhero weapon."

Cole nodded slowly, not wanting to think much on how many tireless hours Zeke had spent trying to get it working perfectly.

"Being able to engineer something like that… Your friend must have been one awesome guy."

This time Cole gave no acknowledgement. All he could think about was how right Rush was, and how he had mistreated Zeke after Trish's death.

He had told him he hated his guts and that all he saw when he looked at him was Trish plummeting to her death. Even knowing that, Zeke had made every effort to help Cole save the world.

All that loyalty only got him killed him in the end.

Cole had not even an ounce of doubt that if he could speak to him one more time, Zeke would probably say the same about him.

Rush saw his discomfort and retracted his excitement. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring back any—"

"It's fine," Cole returned without strength in his voice. "I live with my mistakes."

* * *

Richard blinked wearily as his mind began to clear and his eyes were able to register color again. He returned to consciousness without a clue where he was or even where the other Conduits had gone. The last thing he remembered was jumping out of a helicopter, then half way down everything went black.

He didn't doubt that the other Conduits had managed to survive the ordeal. Cole had seemed capable enough even though most of the others clung to the tail of his coat like helpless children.

Kuo was practical, had an unwavering wit about her. If Torin was half the cop he expected him to be, he wouldn't have given up so easily without a fight.

The other two...he just hoped they stayed as close to Cole as possible.

However, he could do without the periodic lapses of cognizance. What was the point of having powers if he wasn't even conscious when he used them? He had no idea where he was or what he could have possibly done during that time, although he figured it couldn't have been too far from where he had changed and separated from the others.

At the very least, he was thankful that his clothes had stayed with him. He recalled old horror movies where the hapless werewolf would wake up naked and devoid of dignity.

The sun, for the most part, was still in the same place he had recalled it to have been.

He doubled back on the thought that he was possibly back in New Marais. The small hamlet of a town he found himself in looked practically the same; demolished and abandoned.

Even if it were still in one piece, he didn't think he'd be able to recognize it. Five years in a hole being filled with brain-melting drugs had hardly helped him remember the world outside those grey cinder block walls.

He climbed to his feet and wandered the ghostly remains of the town. His first order of business was to find a change of clothes and leave behind the facade of an inmate.

He had found a men's clothing store on the west end of town, condemned and broken as if it hadn't been occupied in fifty years. The inside, however, told a different tale.

Vests and suits dangled from display racks and lay on the tiled floor. He perused the messy aisles, rummaging through any shirt, jacket and pair of slacks he fancied. At this point anything was better than his bright orange prison uniform.

He brought his selections with him to a mirror at the end of a row. What he found looking back at him left him speechless; confused at best.

He hadn't seen his own reflection since he escaped from incarceration. His fingers touched his thick, sloppy beard and mullet. He appeared as if he hadn't groomed in months, when in reality the staff at the prison had allowed him to shave and clean himself only a few days ago. The sudden growth of his hair was unexpected and outright unfathomable.

He made a note to fix the anomaly as soon as he was in a more favorable attire.

Richard pulled off the orange shirt and threw it to the ground, reaching for the black button-up shirt he had picked out from the store to replace it. He took another look at the mirror and watched his arms droop. The rapid growth of his hair wasn't limited to just his head and face. His chest and back faced the same problem. Even his arms were covered in a heavier layer of dark brown hair.

He scowled in disappointment. He looked as if he had some sort of hormonal imbalance or heredity problem. In his days of freedom, he was never one to let his hygiene and outward appearance become so messy. He hadn't worn a mullet since his college years in the 80's.

In fact, the tips of gray in his hair were pretty far down on his list of concerns for the day. All the time in prison had taken what was left of his youth from him.

From what he could gather, his new powers had stripped him of his normal human appearance.

He walked on two legs, behaved and spoke like a man, but if anyone were to call him an animal as an insult they wouldn't be too far off.

Richard cocked his jaw. If this was going to be a chronic problem, it was going to be difficult to maintain a low profile in whatever new life he made for himself. He'd have to be adamant on how often he shaved a day, and that would include a daily haircut. Otherwise the people he'd have to maintain social appearances with may suspect him of being abnormal.

As he pondered, his muscles suddenly tensed and tightened. He took two stiff steps forward, groaning against the pain of his body seizing.

He placed one hand on the corner of the mirror and watched as his skin began to disappear under a thick mat of hair and his face stretched into a muzzle. His fingers squeezed the frame as his nails sharpened into claws.

His head began to hammer and his vision started to go black. He fought to hold onto reality, to feel the cold glass against his hand and the taste of the stale air.

He was able to breathe again once color returned to his eyes and the apricot pigment of his skin prevailed over the instantaneous crop of hair. When he was able to recognize himself as human again, he heaved once or twice in anger.

Blinking rapidly in confusion, he could have sworn his bear had actually gotten _longer_.

The corner of the pane of glass cracked under the stress of his clutching hand.

He had been able to hold off the change this time. But how many more times could he fight it until someone saw him go from man to beast in ten seconds flat?

The answer was that he couldn't. Not for long. And he knew it.

Without control, any attempt to fade into society was a fool's errand. He couldn't risk losing consciousness in one city and finding himself several miles away in Baton Rouge every day. It'd cause too much unrest and not enough stability.

The only solution was to learn how to control it as soon as possible. And there was only one person he knew of that'd have a remote chance to teach him how.

Richard slid into the black shirt and dark slacks, slipped into a pair of brown loafers and topped it off with a rustic leather jacket. At least his wardrobe held a sense of familiarity.

The dark color would hide any abnormal appearance of hair, and his arms were covered by two layers of sleeves.

The only thing left to tend to was the jungle growing on his face.

Approaching one of the service counters, he rummaged through the drawer until he found a pair of scissors. They were not the kind one would use to trim hair or even fabric, but he had no interest of being particular with his tools.

Standing before the closest mirror he began to shear away the excess hair that covered his head and face. He did not take the time to groom himself to perfection as he knew that another transformation was inevitable.

He only cut enough to shorten the hair on the top of his head to the minimal style a man of the law would be expected to wear and hack off enough of his beard to make it short and manageable. At the very least, it was reminiscent of his preferred style.

Accepting but not pleased of his appearance, he stuffed the pair of scissors in the inner pocket of his new jacket.

Leaving the store he was met with a loud rumble of thunder and the faint remains of day. He'd have to find shelter for the night.

In his condolence, he knew exactly where to take his search the next day. The map that he had seen gave him all the clues he needed to find Cole.

The matter of _how_ to find him would have to wait until morning.


	10. Chapter 10

_**A word from the author: Please be courteous when leaving reviews. Leave constructive criticism and avoid posting spoilers.**_

 _ **If you like the story, follow 'LegacyOfTheBeastFiction' on Facebook for updates and posts from the author!**_

 _ **~Zivalene**_

* * *

 **inFAMOUS: Legacy of the Beast  
Chapter 10**

 _"Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene."_  
 _~Arthur Christopher Benson_

* * *

Torin burst into the entrance of a sports bar, desperate to get out of the pouring rain and heavy winds. His police uniform had been completely soaked through, dripping water onto the black and red rug at the door. He shivered from the chill left from the storm, bringing dropping temperatures with it. It had blown in faster than he had anticipated, but he was happy to have found a living city to take refuge in.

He had parted ways with Cole and his troupe nearly two hours ago and in that time the sun had been lost behind the thunderheads and retired into the night. Madisonville was only about ten miles west of Mandeville but he felt that he had walked so much farther.

Hardly anyone inside seemed to notice his noisy entrance as they were too busy enjoying their alcoholic drinks, eight television screens and three pool tables. The cheers and commentary from the various sports channels drowned out most of the chatter and yelling.

He ran his shoes over the mat and made his way to the bar.

He quietly took a seat at the far end of the counter, leaving a single stool between himself and a clearly intoxicated gentleman. This man spoke loudly to his friend beside him, either about a dispute he had with his wife earlier in the day or something his dog had pissed on in the house; the details were garbled by drunken vocabulary.

"Hello," came running an under-dressed female bartender, nearly out of breath. "Welcome to the Riverside Bar. Would you like anything to drink tonight, sir?"

"Just a Coors, thank you," replied the officer with contrasting lack of energy.

"Hey!" The man beside him slammed his glass on the counter. "Where's my friggin' refill, toots?"

"I'll have it right out for you, sir," she said with a huff, taking his glass and rushing to the other side of the counter.

Torin lowered his eyes to the counter, keeping himself from glaring at the drunk. Somehow, he suspected that Eddy would not have been addressed so rudely at his own workplace.

Back in New Marais, it had been a full-time job keeping the partiers and drunkards under control. One Mardi Gras he had racked up seven arrests for disturbing the peace and another three for public indecency in a single night. He had only achieved two hours of sleep that night before getting back in his patrol car to start again the next day.

But those were the days he would never pass up. He had taken his job seriously with ample pride. There were never enough cops to handle all the booze in the city on any given day, much less all the murders, thefts and rapes happening behind closed doors. Had he managed to pull any of these criminals off the street, he knew his hard work had paid off.

His eyes drifted to the flat screen above him to the left. It was the only television without a sports channel showing and instead was replaced with the national news. His jaw dropped to seeing a helicopter's point of view of New Marais. The tagline below read "New Marais in ruins; Monster left with no opposition".

The woman returned and set a chilled bottle of Coors in front of him laced with salted ice crystals. He stopped her just before she continued down the line and asked for her to turn up the volume of the television.

She did so and paused seeing what had caught his interest so intently. Her eyes darted to the patch on his shoulder. A patron called for her farther down the counter and she said quickly, "I'm sorry for your loss."

Torin attempted to drown out the noise of the bar around him and focus of the voice of the reporter, requiring him to read the black and white captions at the bottom of the screen as they lagged behind the audio.

"...these images taken only a short while ago after New Marais fell to the monster that has ravaged the east coast. Cole MacGrath, the man with electric superpowers, fled to New Marais after failing to defeat the creature in Empire City. In the aftermath, there is no sign of either MacGrath or the creature, leading many to believe that he too fell victim to the explosion that wiped out the entire city. Now the question stands that if MacGrath truly is dead, is there any hope of ending the monster's rampage across the nation?"

The officer almost wanted to scream at the top of his lungs that Cole was indeed alive, that he was the one responsible for the destruction of New Marais and subsequently any city from this day forward. But he bit his tongue not wanting to bring too much attention to himself or be questioned for his knowledge.

The rowdy drunk beside him banged his fist against the table and booed loudly in protest to the Falcons scoring a touchdown against the New Marais Saints. Although Torin would have loved to think about a football game involving his home team instead of the crisis at hand, he asked for the man to respectfully quiet down.

"Oh, sorry," blurbed the man rudely. "Didn't mean to interrupt your depressing news story."

Torin was astounded by his lack of sympathy towards the subject. The event had happened hardly thirty miles away and he barely seemed to care.

Then again, that was probably why the bar was so busy that night. The people were aware that death was just a hop and a skip away from them, so why not enjoy one last drink? Not that they knew the danger was already on its way north, leaving them safe to die by their own devices.

He turned back to the television, paying no further attention to the man.

"Congress held an emergency session today in light of New Marais' destruction. In an unheard of unanimous vote, the Senate passed a bill to begin funding a new branch of national defense against the threat dubbed the Department of Unified Protection. No explicit details have been released to the public yet as to how this department will operate, however the group has been described as an "anti-Conduit defense force".

Torin felt his mouth go dry and took a large swig of his beer. He knew that Conduits were not popular, but he didn't think the government would go so far as to create a task force designed to counter Conduits. Once this news story spread, he'd have to be extremely careful not to allude anyone to his true nature.

"Joining me now is NSA Director Crawford, successor to the previous Director Houston who passed away a few days ago. He has offered to speak on the subject."

Over the phone, the Director returned the greeting, taking a moment to pay respect to the man who had filled his position before him.

"Now, Director, what is it you can tell us about this Department of Unified Protection? What about it is so compelling to Congress that made them vote clear across the board to fund this group?"

"Well, Todd, there's not much that I am at liberty to disclose at this early stage in time. What I can tell you is that this organization is imperative to the survival of the human race."

"But what can the Department do that the military cannot? Clearly the government has an ace in the hole planned to counteract this threat."

"The military has already lost thousands of loyal American soldiers to this monster—the Beast, if you don't mind me using a consistent term. I, myself, have lost two of my best agents. Raw gunfire isn't stopping this thing, not even a nuclear warhead slowed it down for very long. What the D.U.P. is meant to do is take unconventional measures to defend our people."

"And what 'unconventional measures' would those be, Director?"

"I cannot answer that at this time."

Torin took another nervous glug of his drink, disappointed that it didn't seem to have the same numbing effect on him now than it did the night before.

"Then is there anything you can say about the people who survive the monst—excuse me—the Beast's attacks and appear to gain superpowers out of it, the Conduits?"

"The only thing I can confidently say is that these people are menaces to society. For all we know, these could be the precursor to an unstoppable army against humanity. Already the military have executed nearly a hundred of these terrorists in what remains of Empire City and the east coast alone. Who's to say how many more of them have slipped through the cracks. I implore any good samaritan who comes in contact with a Conduit to report them immediately to the proper authorities and, if possible within reason, to attempt a citizen's arrest."

"But not all Conduits are inherently evil, right? Take a look at Cole MacGrath, who made the ultimate sacrifice just today trying to protect this country."

"If you'll recall, Todd, Cole MacGrath was the one who started all of this. It was his fault that Empire City was destroyed. The Beast originated from Empire City. It could very well be that he had something to do with its sudden appearance, and now his actions are costing all of us dearly."

Torin's hand suddenly burned as the glass bottle shattered in his hands. The sound and pain had startled him. He hadn't even noticed his grip tighten on the bottle. He had been completely absorbed by anxiety watching the news that he was virtually unaware how he was coping with it.

Blood dribbled from a deep cut in his palm. Glass shards and beer covered the counter.

"Aww," mocked the drunk beside him. "Looks like someone's having a bad day. Why don't you go home and sleep it off. ...Oh wait, you can't."

He and his intoxicated buddy erupted into a fit of laughter.

Torin felt a rage come over him. The man's inconsiderate attitude infuriated him. He tried to contain his temper by clenching his injured fist to numb the pain.

Then his heart stopped. The spilled drink conformed to his hand, filling in the deep slice in his palm and almost instantaneously seemed to erase the wound.

There came a clamor from those who had been attracted by the breaking of the bottle. He glanced around to find stunned gazes and drooping jaws. Even the bartender who had served him pressed herself against the shelf of liquor and glasses in fear.

"Did you see that?" asked the friend three seats over. "He's some kinda magician."

Torin rose from his seat and quickly made his way to the exit, trying not to make eye contact with the people whose eyes followed him across the room.

"He ain't no magician…" said the man he had come to abhor during his stay. "He's one of those Conduits!"

The officer heard sloppy footfalls behind him. His survival instinct kicked in, expecting that his life was in danger.

He spun around seeing the man's arm raised above his head. Torin reached out and grabbed his raised wrist, finding a long pocketknife grasped in his hand.

Without thinking, he spun the man around and wrapped his arm around his neck. He squeezed at the man's wrist, forcing him to drop the knife.

The man scratched at the officer's arm locked around his neck, losing oxygen with each passing second. Unable to pull free the drunk desperately reached down and behind himself, running his fingers across Torin's belt searching for his service gun.

Torin pressed the man closer to himself. His captive struggled against him, feet slipping against the floor and free hand flailing to find a weapon.

Finally his hand fell limp and he fought no longer.

Breathing heavily, the Conduit released him, watching him slump to the ground. At first all he felt was victory, justifying that the man had come at him with a weapon with the intent to kill then attempted to take his own gun from him.

When he reached down to make sure his gun was still attached to his belt, he went cold. He had forgotten that he had lost his pistol in the harbor at New Marais.

He looked down to the limp man, searching for a sign that he was still breathing. But the drunk's chest was still, not even taking slow unconscious breaths.

Torin felt a hundred eyes fall upon him like a sheep circled by a pack of wolves. Shouts and yells erupted, some panicked and others angry, looking to take down the terrorist.

The bartender woman had taken up a phone and already had the authorities on the line. "There's a Conduit at the bar! He's killed someone!"

At that point, Torin ran for the door and out into the wind and rain. His fear suspended any puddles he splashed through in the air, as if he had turned off gravity to the water around him.

He had no idea where he was running. All he knew was he was trying to put as much distance between himself and the bar as possible.

He ran until his lungs burned with cold air and his legs felt like they were about to fall off, finding himself in a back alley connecting several businesses together.

He stopped beside a large commercial dumpster, and pressed himself against the back wall. He hung his head, heaving breaths that sent the water on his lips splattering against the cement.

His head swiveled as he sensed motion coming from the right corner of his eye. He frowned in disappointment, seeing that it had only been more puddles rising and dancing in response to his powers.

Enraged and angry at himself for being unable to control his powers for even ten minutes in public, he threw a blind punch to relieve himself of stress. His fist met the metal of the dumpster and drove a dent into its blue-painted surface. He had hardly felt the smallest bit of pain from the impact. The amount of ease it took to cause such damage disturbed him.

Torin pressed his back against the wet wall and slid to the ground, barely noticing his pants soaking in the puddle at his feet.

He hated himself for being a Conduit. Now he was branded as a traitor by humanity. They had his face and crime on camera. People had seen him. He wouldn't last long now whether it be the police coming to detain him, the military hoping to add one more terrorist death to their head count or whatever the government had planned for this new Department of Unified Protection.

He had never felt more lost and alone. He had no idea where to go from here. There was nowhere safe to hide. His attempt at a normal life lasted an astounding two hours.

Wrapping his arms around his knees, he sat and waited. He didn't know what he was waiting for, but he figured he'd know when it happened.

Whatever it was, he wouldn't fight it. He had already wasted his one chance to do things right.

* * *

"...crews have spent the past few hours scouring the city for survivors. Thus far they have been unable to find any signs of life. Cole MacGrath was also in New Marais when the city was destroyed. However, their search has also come up inconclusive on whether or not MacGrath perished in the explosion. Most of what's left of the country is prepared to assume the worst— "

Kuo switched off the radio in the truck, letting out a tired yawn and rubbed her eyes. She looked beside her, finding Julia dozed off in her seat.

She glanced down at the clock on the radio that spelled out 11:23 in blocky teal numbers. They were running late by just a little over an hour only because Rush had insisted on stopping for pizza in Florence. Though she had tried to argue against it, she couldn't deny that meals had to be fit into the schedule somewhere.

"Hang in there, Kuo," Cole looked in from the rear window. "We're almost there."

Just ahead, the clouds were lit with a dim tinge of orange. In the distance, buildings towered above the trees and thousands of windows lit up the sky line.

"You should let me take the next shift driving," said Rush to Kuo. "All that sitting isn't good for you."

"We'll see," she said in reply.

As the quiet road merged into the highway leading into Jackson, Rush looked over to Cole who kept his eyes on the horizon. "How're we gonna do this, Boss? New Marais, take two? Smash some cars, blow stuff up?"

"No," the other replied. "The government doesn't know about us yet. They're keeping an eye out for the Beast, not a truck full of Conduits. I want to keep it that way. We take it nice and quiet, in and out."

"Blast the place before anyone knows we were there."

"Exactly."

Kuo looked in the rear view mirror towards him. "A long as everyone thinks you're dead, you might as well use it to your advantage. No sign of the Beast or Cole MacGrath, and yet cities keep disappearing. It'll send every intelligence and defense agency into confusion."

Rush glanced to Cole. "Can you tell how many Conduits are there? That's how you found us, right?"

"The only thing I can sense now is just a bunch of electricity; a stable city and people everywhere."

He took a glance around the road, feeling his body energize to the presence of electricity. All day he had felt tired and thirsty, eyes hazy with a slight headache. Here he felt awake and alive.

He took a deep breath, enjoying the pleasant feeling. In only a few minutes it would be gone and the weakness would return until they passed through another helpless town.

Cole and Rush twitched at the sound of an oncoming siren. They ducked into the bed of the truck, fearing the possibility of a police officer recognizing 'the electric man'.

Past the cover of trees came rushing an ambulance, speeding past them with blinding white and red lights. The Conduits heaved a sigh of relief.

However, Cole had an eerie feeling lingering in his brain. Whatever it was, it was pointing him in the direction of the ambulance.

"...I think there's a Conduit in that ambulance," he muttered.

"Are you sure?" Asked Kuo, keeping her eyes on the blurry lights.

"No," he said honestly, admitting he still felt very unaccustomed to the sensations of his new powers. "But it wasn't electricity I felt."

"Then I'll head for the hospital."

Kuo followed the ambulance for as far as she could without exceeding the legal speed limit too many times to avoid the attention of the local authorities. Once she lost sight of it, she adhered to the blue hospital markers on the side of the roads, eventually leading them to the Baptist Medical Clinic near the center of town.

By the time they arrived, the ambulance had already been emptied at the emergency room entrance and the patient rushed inside.

With the truck parked in a nearby alley, Cole looked to Rush with a thought running through his mind.

"What?" asked Rush once he saw his gazed fixed on him.

"You think you could go in and find whoever they brought in?"

"I hope you have a more elaborate plan than that. I'd have no way to know who I'm looking for."

"I think I have a fix for that..."

Cole extended his hand, causing Rush to lean back in question.

"You trust me, right?" asked Cole.

"Depends," answered the other, moving his eyes between the man's face and hand. "What are you going to do?"

"You'll see. Just hold still."

Rush didn't move as Cole placed two fingers upon his forehead. Unsure of what was about to be done to him, he clamped his eyes shut.

"It won't hurt, but you'll feel a little dizzy."

With a quick burst of benign embers, Rush felt the sensation he had warned him of. Groaning, he held himself up by the side of the bed. When he opened his eyes, his heart nearly jumped from his chest.

"Holy crap..." he shuddered as he stared at the animated skeleton wrapped in Cole's transparent skin and clothes.

Kuo looked on anxiously, watching Rush's expression melt into a haunted horror.

"See that yellow spot?" asked Cole.

"Yeah…" said Rush slowly with question, observing the golden glow that seemed to emanate inside his chest and snake through the rest of his body.

"That's the Conduit gene. All you have to do is go in there and look for the one that has it."

"Sure." Rush covered his eyes with one hand. "But is there an easy way to turn off the X-ray vision? It's pretty creepy looking at 'Bone MacGrath'."

Uncovering his eyes, he found his sight to be returned to normal and let out a sigh of relief.

"You'll get used to it." Cole placed a hand on his shoulder.

Rush nodded with an exhale of breath. "Might as well start practicing now."

He hopped out of the truck and began to jog across the street toward the building.

"Be careful, Rush," Cole called after him.

Kuo watched him leave and then looked behind her to check to see if Julia was still fast asleep in the passenger seat. Confirming this to be true she approached him and whispered harshly, "You gave him another power?"

"It's not like I much of a choice. We can't be seen, and I'm not sending Julia to trespass on hospital property."

"So you'd send Eddy instead?"

"He's nobody to them. And if something goes wrong, he'll be able to get out no problem."

"...But to give him one of your powers? How did you even know you could do that, much less avoid giving him something a bit more difficult to explain, like transforming?"

"John gave it to me when I ran into him in New Marais. I could give it to you, too."

"No," Kuo threw up her hand and took a step back. "No, I'm fine the way I am."

Cole gave a short laugh. Kuo was never comfortable with change. Just getting used to having powers had taken a while, and that wasn't even touching on the matter of accepting them. Now that they had crossed the line, she had accepted that the human life she once missed was no longer possible to return to.

But that didn't mean that she was any more comfortable with the idea of her powers escalating to a higher level.

They waited for almost ten minutes, listening to the distant cries of sirens and car engines rumbling through the street.

Rush finally came running back through the alley with a slight pant. "You were right, Boss. The dude they brought in is a Conduit, but..."

He stopped, seeming to have lost track of his words.

"But what?" asked Kuo.

Rush looked to Cole instead of her and questioned, "Should I be seeing a bunch of red inside someone too?"

Cole felt an invisible hand squeeze his heart inside his chest. "He has the Plague?"

"If that's what all that red on his organs is, yeah. They were pounding on his chest and using the paddles on him."

"Did they get him stable?"

"Eventually. But the heart monitor sounded pretty slow."

"He won't last much longer, Cole." Kuo began to move toward the opposite side of the truck. "You have to do it now."

She woke the sleeping girl and coerced her out of the vehicle, grabbing the map from the center column once she tiredly plopped outside.

"What about the truck?" asked Rush. "Won't it, y'know, blow up?"

"We can find another one."

The four Conduits followed the dark path behind the buildings, making distance between themselves and the potential bomb that was the truck.

Once they found a safe and secluded spot, Cole requested for the others to stand back. This blast would have to be exponentially bigger than the one in Mandeville, thus there would be more outward force to endure.

Then he closed his eyes and searched for the hidden power tucked deep inside himself, calling for it to surface at his bidding.

But this time it wasn't so readily accessible. It was buried deep inside the darkness; so far that he had almost forgotten where to draw it from.

Yet when he took command of it, it slipped through his fingers as easily as a handful of water.

He opened his eyes and clenched his brows in question.

The Conduits looked on just as curiously, waiting for the red aura to return.

Cole tried again, this time only being able to produce a single small ember from each of his hands. It wasn't nearly enough power to achieve the blast radius he wanted.

Above him a lamp flickered on and off attached to the emergency exit of a building. He raised his arm and manipulated the electricity to come rushing to fill his internal reserves.

"What's wrong?" asked Kuo with a hint of insecurity.

"Nothing," answered Cole. "Just need a little more juice is all." He couldn't keep the doubt from lingering in his voice as he spoke.

Again, he tried to summon the power, finding the flames to flicker just as faintly as they had before.

Cole's stomach filled with stones. His mind raced trying to find the reason for his lack of energy. It had worked before. He had more than enough electricity running through him to keep him going for days. So what had changed?

Then he remembered that the pressure he had carried with him since getting his new powers had released completely in the last blast. He no longer felt the pain built up in his chest.

That had been the key to his power. And nothing but a small fraction of it remained.

His eyes darted to Kuo's, his heart pounding in fear. "I can't set off the blast."


	11. Chapter 11

_**A word from the author: Please be courteous when leaving reviews. Leave constructive criticism and avoid posting spoilers.**_

 _ **If you like the story, follow 'LegacyOfTheBeastFiction' on Facebook for updates and posts from the author!**_

 _ **~Zivalene**_

* * *

 **inFAMOUS: Legacy of the Beast**  
 **Chapter 11**

 _"Circumstances are beyond human control, but our conduct is in our own power."_  
 _~Benjamin Disraeli_

* * *

 _~The 2nd Day~_

"What?" Kuo glared at Cole, a nervous tremble in her eyes. "What do you mean you can't set off the blast?"

"I don't have enough energy for it," Cole replied, trying explain what little he understood as simply as possible.

"How can you not have enough energy? You drained the light."

"It's not electricity I need. I need more of —" He stopped himself, finding that he didn't have the exact words to properly express what the source of his new power was. All he could gather was that it felt like he was two-hundred feet underwater, enduring the crushing weight of the ocean all at once.

He sighed and, for lack of an oral description, summoned his lightning to one hand. "Look. I have plenty of electricity to run on." Then he brought a chilling mist to his other hand. "I use it for the ice, too. But this…."

He dismissed both elements and ignited a pitifully tiny flame in his palm.

"...this is something else. I don't know what it is, but I can't use electricity to feed the fire."

At this point, Kuo stared helplessly at the ember. "And that's all the fire you can make?"

Cole nodded grimly and snuffed out the flame without any effort at all.

"What do we do now?" asked Rush nervously.

The noises in the city sounded louder than before. Sirens wailed closer and closer, whether it was a police car racing to meet them or an ambulance hurrying to save another Plague victim.

"Nothing," Cole said without any strength in his voice. "Head back to the truck. We're gonna find a place to spend the night away from the city."

"...and let the Conduit die." prodded Kuo with a sour tone.

"Kuo," the electric man glared at her, his blood pressure rising. "I don't need a lecture right now."

Whatever authority she tried to display had melted away into shame.

Cole pressed his companions back to the vehicle. Should the sirens belong to the police, he did not want to be seen. Without the power to blast the town, the last thing he needed was the entire city coming to kill him and someone slipping word that he was alive. If nothing else, the blast was a witness eraser.

* * *

In the cold winter rain, Torin shut his eyes and placed his forehead against his bent knee. In the solitude and loneliness, the only sound that reached his ears was the constant pitter-patter of rain against the asphalt. The overhang above his head kept him dry for the most part. However his shoes were beginning to grow soggy from the puddle inching closer to the wall at his back.

He shivered, hearing a flood of whispers fill the vacant spaces in his mind. As much as he tried to drown them out by focusing on the rain, the breathless voices endured to haunt him.

"Go away," he pleaded to himself. "Leave me alone."

The phantoms of New Marais did not heed him. Their incoherent consonants relentlessly pelted his thoughts.

After a moment, one seemed to rise the chatter, separating itself as an individual. This voice was not merely a hushed moan, it had its own tone and rhythm.

He grimaced, hearing a masculine southern drawl tainted with spite and anger. In his mind, he pictured one of the masked enforcers of Bertrand's Militia taunting him in death.

The freezing soppiness of his clothes and the trickling raindrops brought him back to his time as a prisoner in the dictator's plantation house. For one eternal week, he had been little more than a plaything for several of Bertrand's most seasoned men. He had been kept in small quarters with three other officers from his precinct. They were given little food and water, chained together to a wall and were given no permission to use the restroom when needed.

He gagged from the slightest recollection of the overpowering stench of human urine and feces.

The only time he was removed from the wall was when he was personally chosen to be the victim of torture for the hour, where he would be taken to another room usually occupied by three Militia goons and be subjected to whatever horrible fantasies tickled their imaginations.

He had been whipped, electrocuted with a car battery, branded with hot iron to wear their dreadful insignia on his chest, hung upside down until he lost consciousness and ruthlessly beaten. However, he was assured that he would not be killed only for the sole purpose of being transported to the rail yard in Floodtown when Bertrand was ready for him.

He did not know what awaited him at the time, but now that Cole had informed him of the truth, he realized death would have been a favorable alternative than being mutated into a savage monster.

Above all else, he remembered being taken for an hour-long session of waterboarding. The grunt who had dubbed him 'his favorite toy' bound him in a chair and hung a cloth over his face. Drip after drip, the ice-cold water would hit him square between the eyes and slowly soak the rag until he struggled to breathe. After half an hour, he could feel his sanity slipping away, his composure unmoored into hysteria.

Upon being returned to the dungeon with the rest of his friends, he could not help but jump every time one of them uttered a single noise.

Torin lifted his head at the sound of tires crunching the gravel on the pavement. Blue and red lights blinded him as a patrol car cornered him against the dumpster.

He waited calmly, anticipating to be met with shouts and firearms pointed towards him. When the driver's side door opened up, he was unexpectedly met with a familiar voice.

"Torin? Thank God.…"

The Conduit peered through the blaring lights towards the man coming towards him. Upon seeing his face, his heart gave a shudder.

"Andrew?" It was his former partner in New Marais who had transferred to the Madisonville precinct to be closer to his family two years ago.

"The second the bartender told us a New Marais cop by the name of 'Davis' was a Conduit and killed one of their patrons, I just knew I had to find you first. There has to be some mistake…"

For an instant Torin wanted to throw his arms up and thank the Lord that the one who had come to arrest him was a friend who would listen to him and help him out of this crazy situation. But the guilt ate right through any hope he had that life would ever be normal for him again.

He looked his former comrade in the eyes, past tips of dripping black hair and admitted quietly, "No. There's no mistake. I killed the man sitting beside me in the bar tonight. He saw me use my powers and came at me with a knife. I had him in a choke hold and he tried to reach for my gun. From there on, you know I was obligated to defend myself."

His friend seemed to go pale listening to his confession. Andrew glanced to his belt and then frowned. "The patrons said you never had a gun in the first place."

"I lost it in New Marais after the explosion. If I had remembered that detail, I would have just let him go. But the court won't want to hear what mistake I made. All they'll care about is that a man is dead because a Conduit killed him."

The Madisonville cop sighed in frustration, as if he were trying to find a loophole somewhere to save his friend. Even after his confession, he didn't want to believe it.

"Show me…" he requested grimly. "If you've got powers, then show me."

Torin glanced behind him to the front of the patrol car. He knew there was a camera recording everything they did and said just inside the windshield.

Looking back to his friend he clenched his fist. Every drop of water on the way down from the sky froze in mid-air, reforming into tiny spheres without gravity to pull them to the ground.

"Oh god…" Andrew couldn't help but jump in pure shock. What he saw was something entirely impossible, like a computer generated still frame taken from a movie.

Torin eased on his clutch and the rain continued to fall as nature preferred.

The other cop tensed up in anger. "Damn it, Torin. Why did it have to be you?"

He turned, looked at the dashboard camera and began to walk briskly toward it.

Torin anticipated his intention to destroy the recorded evidence and rushed to stop him. "No. No, Andrew, stop." He took him tightly by the arm.

His partner was surprised by his strong grip, turning to face him with a start. "This isn't right, Torin. I sat in a car with you for three years. I know you have a stigma for murderers; you wouldn't do something like this."

"That's why I can't let you destroy that tape. If I were any other person, you'd have done this by the book. What I did was wrong. I earn what I deserve."

"Don't compare yourself to the slimeball that killed your old man. You're not like him."

Torin only stared at him for a moment. Maybe that was why he was so adamant about giving himself up; to be an honest criminal. But at the same time, Andrew was completely oblivious to how wrong he was.

He didn't know that his father's killer was a Conduit, too.

"Andrew," he sighed. "I've seen a lot of things these past few days. There's no place for Conduits in the world. Even the ones with the best intentions are too dangerous. Don't risk the life you have with your family and your career to help me. The last thing you want is to be branded a traitor."

His former partner frowned and deflated.

"Just make it easier on both of us. Do your job and take me in."

Andrew growled and reached for his handcuffs. "Damn you, Torin. Why do you always have to play by the rules?"

Torin placed his hands behind his back without any thought of resisting. His friend restrained him and placed all of his personal items onto the hood of his patrol car, going by procedure for the sake of performing for the camera.

Then, moving to the back of the car, he began to recite the Miranda Code as required of him by law. "Torin Richard Davis, you are under arrest for the murder of James Cox. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.…"

As he continued to speak, Torin was placed in the back seat of the vehicle. He let him finish and was then left alone after sharing a mournful gaze with his friend.

Andrew gathered Torin's belongings from the hood and placed them all inside a plastic ziplock bag. He then entered the driver's seat of the patrol car and tossed the bag to the passenger side. He looked back at his old partner with a hole in his conscience and reached for the gear shift.

Suddenly, the front left door flew open. Andrew was pulled from the car by the front of his shirt and flung to the side the building with inconceivable ease.

Torin leaned against the window, concerned about his friend. In the darkness of night lit only by the siren on the roof of the car, he couldn't make out any movement coming from his friend.

Then his view was blocked by a hulking figure. Bright yellow eyes glowering into the tinted window straight at him.

The door separating the two of them opened swiftly. What Torin could only describe in the lack of proper light as a man in a matted, wet suit of fur leaned in to look him straight in the eye. A clawed hand gripped the seat. There came the sound of vehement sniffing followed by a loud snort.

Then the yellow eyes narrowed and a growl that could only belong to a hungry carnivore filled the car.

Torin scraped backwards to the opposite side, heart pounding in his throat. His hands bound behind his back twitched in fear.

"You just gonna sit there and stare at me all night or are you gonna get out of the car?"

The voice was immediately recognizable to Torin, despite being distorted and mixed with a low husky growl.

"...Richard? What are you doing here?"

"Keeping you from ending up like me. Now, let's go before more show up."

For a long moment, Torin did nothing and kept his gaze firmly fixed on the hybridized man-animal. He didn't trust his intentions to rescue him. The timing was all too perfect.

"And what if I don't want to escape? Sooner or later we'll all be behind bars."

"You won't be going to jail. You'll be going straight to the morgue."

"Then it's my life to throw away, isn't it?" Torin shot back forcefully.

Another growl sounded out of displeasure. This sent a shiver down the officer's spine.

"Cole sacrificed thousands of people so that you could live. You were given the chance to survive, and you want to throw all of that away because you think being a Conduit isn't worth it?"

Torin sat quietly, feeling another wave of guilt wash over him even stronger than that of the cascade from the murder of the man from the bar.

"If not for him, do it for Trevor. He spent every day making sure you had everything you needed in life. Or are you going to let twenty years of his life be for nothing?"

This remark made Torin's blood skyrocket to dangerous temperatures.

"You don't have the right to talk about my father. Not after you killed him."

Richard's grip on the seat appeared to loosen. The gleam in his eye seemed to fade. "If that's what you want to think," was his only response.

This answer added pressure to Torin's veins.

"But I can't stop thinking about him every time I look at you. To see you wearing that uniform like you always wanted, wearing his badge, and seeing the man you've become…. He would be so proud of you, Torin. He told me so the day you graduated from the academy. Don't disappoint him now."

Torin felt his heart soften if only by a minute amount. He stared down the other man, and in a voice shaking with rage, asked "If you miss him so much, why did you kill him?"

Richard's eyes fell to the upholstery of the seats. He sighed, then took in a breath as if he were ready to spill his secrets out into the open for the first time in his life.

An engine came rumbling from behind. Headlights lit the end of the alley, getting brighter and brighter.

The convict turned back to Torin and said in a hurry, "It'll have to wait until later. We need to go—now." At the other's hesitation he added, "I will drag you out of there if I have to."

Not wanting to be gripped by such long and sharp claws, Torin agreed and hastily slid out of the vehicle.

By the time he was able to comply, the oncoming car from down the alley had barely become visible around the corner. Escaping now would only lead to a hail of gunfire and a convergence of law enforcement. Richard urged Torin to hide on the other side of the patrol car to take cover from sight.

Now with full view of Richard, Torin could see what form he had taken on in stark clarity.

His face was practically that of a wolf in its most natural form, except with human expressions and behaviors. His arms were shaped like a man's with the only oddity being the long and terrifying claws at the tips of his fingers. The same could be said about his lower limbs with the exception that his bones still appeared to support the skeletal foot structure of a canine's. His entire body was covered in wet dripping fur retaining his natural hair color with streaks of gray throughout.

However, the thing that was the least human about him was the shaggy tail.

In the most simplest of explanations, Richard was a real werewolf straight out of a fictional horror story. Torin's curiosity of how he achieved this while keeping his human mentality was only bested by how uncomfortable he was evading arrest with his father's killer.

The two waited as the cruiser stopped just on the other side of the one they slunk behind. Two officers this time barreled from the front and rushed to Andrew's side.

Richard's ears twitched as they began to speak among themselves.

"Doyle, can you hear me? Doyle."

When no response came, a police radio beeped. "10-108; requesting an ambulance at the back of the Morgan Street Bakery."

Hearing the police code for a downed officer in serious condition, Torin peeked through the window to see the two cops huddled around Andrew. Blood dripped down the wall in the rain where the back of his head had collided with the cement. He only determined that the impact hadn't killed him by the fact that the code didn't translate to critical condition or death.

A heavy hand fell on his shoulder urging him to duck back down. Richard's muzzle faced toward him, "Stay out of sight until it's safe."

As he began to stand Torin whispered harshly, "What do you think you're doing?"

Richard's answer was a cryptic, "Whatever instinct tells me to do."

His massive frame climbed effortlessly onto the roof of the car. On all fours and slinked into a primal hunting posture, a monstrous snarl escaped from him that no human could reproduce.

The two officers jumped in frightened shouts, whirling around to see the mythical creature staring at them hungrily with fangs bared and saliva dribbling from its lips.

"10-91v!" Chirped the other officer reaching for his weapon, warning that they had come in contact with a vicious animal.

"What is that thing!?" The first blurted.

"Who cares? Shoot it!"

Shots cracked and zipped by Richard with uneasy, fearful aim.

The hood of the patrol car crunched and creaked as the werewolf hopped from roof to hood to the ground with surprising fluidity for a man in his mid-fifties. He closed the distance with only two feral bounds.

First, he pounced the officer who had made the alert about the vicious animal, sending his gun tumbling to the ground.

The remaining officer fired off a full clip of bullets as fast as he could in defense of his partner. With the thick fur covering his body and the inhuman resistance to firearms Conduits possessed, Richard only felt hot pinches digging into his skin.

Using human tactics he punched the pinned cop a with daunting force to the head until he blacked out.

"10-00! All units respond—Aah!"

Richard tossed the officer beneath him like a ragdoll at the other, sending him also tumbling to the ground trapped beneath the two-hundred pound man.

He struggled to free himself as Richard menacingly approached him slowly on two feet, letting out a predatory growl. His face turned pale in fear, sweat dampened his forehead.

Above him, the werewolf roared ferociously and raised a single clawed hand into the air. As he brought it down, the helpless officer fell unconscious all on his own, undone by insurmountable fear.

Richard halted his attack and snorted a sort of feral laugh. "They just don't make officers like they used to..."

Wasting no time, he retrieved the key to the handcuffs from Andrew's quiet body. He sniffed him once, finding him safely breathing and warm with stable vitals.

He then returned to Torin, freed him from his restraints and tossed them to the ground.

"Don't worry, I didn't kill anyone."

"Oh, that's good," said Torin sarcastically. "Because your self-restraint was so keen five years ago."

Richard's ears folded back in annoyance.

The younger man opened the passenger side door and retrieved his belongings, replacing each of them into their correct holsters. As a felon on the run, his police gear would come in handy even after he learned how to use his powers...assuming he lived long enough to do so.

"I hope you have an idea for escaping," he looked to Richard, clipping his two pairs of handcuffs to his belt. "One of them called for the net to come down. We'll be swarmed in minutes."

"I may have been off my game for a few years, but don't forget I was a cop longer than you've been alive. I wanted him to call them here. Madisonville is a small town, doesn't need more than four or five patrols. The net will have plenty of holes with two of them already disposed of."

Torin gave a dissatisfied grunt. He didn't like the idea of being on the run from the law. He had served enough time on the force to know that no criminal escapes for long.

But more than anything, he wanted Richard's explanation on the day he had lost his father. He wouldn't get to hear it if he was dead.

"If you know so much, then start running. I'll be right behind you."


End file.
